Marker XIII on the Borders
by S.C.O.R.P.I.O.N. Mal
Summary: Horizon with a mix of Dead Space. "The peace that befell Musashi and the known world was ended that day, the day the Marker XIII became self aware. It awoken, and spread nothing more than death and chaos across the land. The only problem was, the dead didn't stay dead... not for long." Class 3 Plum and others are sole survivors and must survive the Marker Outbreak.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue Part I

**Authors Note: Hello all and welcome to my Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere Fanfic. Just going to point some things out. This is not a pure Horizon work. This work is going to consist of elements from the Dead Space universe. Actually, this is a Horizon/Dead Space cross over. I simply have it listed as a Horizon fanfic because there is barely anything in there. I really hope this is okay.**

** Original Characters, if you've been keeping up with two other fanfics, "Those of the Horizon" and "Another Story", one thing you'll find in common with both is the presence of certain Original Characters. Characters I myself would very much like to use, but first I need to acquire permissions from their various creators before implementation into this work. Otherwise, I submitted my own OC to "Another Story", his name is Dimitri, and I'll definitely be using him in this story. To get a grasp as to who exactly the other OC's are, the Special Tactics squad as called by metalgearhunter, be sure to read Another Story and/or Those of the Horizon. Both are great material, and I really encourage you to read pure Horizon material in addition to this nice crossover.**

** As far as the story is concerned, other than the hopeful inclusion of previously mensioned OC's, I have no intensions of adding Isaac Clarke, (or other Dead Space franchise "Characters") or John Carver. The world ended long ago with the fall of the Divine States, and I'm pretty sure IF Isaac and company were alive around that time, they would've died. Does mean I can't make references. That being said aswell, you can be expecting the many various necromorphs, especially the new ones in Dead Space 3 like the Waster. If you haven't played Dead Space or it's sequels, you'll really have no idea of what's going on here. That's why, I will try to include the story details from the Dead Space universe into this writing so that you are no lost as to what's going on. For those that do know what Dead Space is, then I just want to let you know that I've played the three main games, and completed all three numerous times already. I've done a lot of research concerning the core aspects, because I know there are novels out there, so Dead Space fans will not be disappointed, atleast I hope so. As a plus, this story will be based on the events of Dead Space 2 and 3. With that, I now leave you to the story.**

**Oh yeah, I own none of the ideas that directly relate to Dead Space or Horizon.**

Before time was figured in the known world, before Musashi even set flight into the sky, there was an Earth, there was an inhabitable surface. Testament archives tell of many events that must to replicated in order to follow history to what is understood to revive the inhabitants to their former Divine selves, to ascend back into the Divine States. The Testament Union works hard to make sure that all nations within and outside it's control follow the path of the reenactment of history. However, there is one key event that Testament scholars do keep hidden from the masses, the discovery of a strange artifact.

This artifact was located deep in the resesses of the plagued surface, researched by a government now long forgotten. Even though the states fell and disrupted the surface, this lone artifact stood. It stood several meters tall, emitting a deep, dark glow; untouched by the devestation before it. The many heiroglyphs on it shone briallaintly. It looked like two spikes spiraling upwards, wide at the bottom, then thining down to two sharp points that nearly meet. This is, the Black Marker; the original Marker. This artifact was known by the previous world as a source of unlimited energy; always, it emitted a signal that one would percieve as the energy it gives off; it is known as the Marker Signal.

The Testament Union also had a source of unlimited power, the power of Ether. Ether is perceived as what makes all living and non living things exist. It powers their weapons, it keeps the _Musash_ afloat, and it is even inside the inhabitants living bodies. With this, power would not be an issue, no matter how far and how terribly war is waged; ether would be available to all, as all living and non-living entities emit ether.

However, the Testament Union also faced a severe problem: Ether will not last forever, for the apacolypse is nearing. The research of Queen Elizabeth of England has hypothesized that the apacolypse will come in the form of an ether consuming black hole. If this is the case, not only will power be lost, but also the lives of many. Another renewable energy source must be sought, one that is equally as sustainable, and one that might even help combat the apocolypse...

_**40 Years Before...**_

A foot step, a hardened shoe landed on the grey, dead remains of what would've been grass in the dead world of the plague surface far off from Japan. A soldier stood with several others. Drop ships flew by over head. Both the soldiers and the ships wore the Testament insignia. Testament squads armed with severe conditions protection gear ventured into the plagued surface none could inhabit, following a strange energy signal that looked similiar to ether on monitor readouts. As far as scholars could tell, this was another form of ether.

_"I don't care how long it takes,"_ boomed the voice of the young pope Innocentious. _"I want that energy source. K.P.A. Italia will stand tall above all the other nations. Do you understand that!?"_

"Yes sir," said a young soldier. He wore a plexiglass visor. His face was soft, yet determined. "But if I may speak freely, your eminance; how is this thing supposed to be another energy source? How can anything be a replacement for our ether power supply. The shrines are doing a good job maintaining everything, so-"

A man with a heavy cloak walked by the soldier, laying a hand on his shoulder. "That'll be enough son."

The soldier turns his head over to look at the man whom had just spoken. The man addressing him had a stern face. This soldier knew the man as Admiral Graves, he was a serious man, but very tolerant. He always spoke with authority in his voice. "Admiral," was his response. Without hesitation, he saluted.

The admiral took a step forward. "At ease," he released the soldier. "Tell me, Private..."

"Toombs, Sargeant Toombs, sir."

"Toombs," the admiral said, nodding his head. "Do you like going to your barracks at night knowing you can get a good night's rest in cool conditions when it's baking outside?"

"Yes sir" replied Toombs.

Graves nodded, "Good. Then I presume you also like knowing that your wife and kid are also safe at home. Having lights, playing with toys. Secure."

"Yes... yes sir," replied the soldier in a more relaxed tone.

"Well, that's good," said the admiral. "Now tell me this: Do you like knowing all this power is provided by our ever increasing supply of ether?"

Toombs nodded energitically. "Yes sir, yes I do sir."

"Alright, alright. Now, look me in the eye and say yes to this... if you dare." The admiral huffed in a bit, and walked. He signaled for Toombs to follow. "Did you know that all this energy is being provided, free of charge, by the hard work of shrines like the Asama Shrine down in Mikawa; non governmentally funded, and non-profit; an organization that could shutdown without notice at any given time."

The soldier looked around a bit. The thought that ether distribution from the shrines could be halted at any given moment did unnerve him. There were tons of other Ether creation methods and techniques that could be used, but the Shrines ultimated controlled the Ether distribution. If they hated a single entity, they could simply starve them of the much needed source.

"No," said the soldier hesitantly. "No sir, I do not like that idea."

The admiral patted Toombs on the shoulder once more. "Then you understand why we need to find a new source of energy; one that's governmentally controlled and funded; no chances of being held from the deserving, hard working individuals who need it."

"Yes... yes sir," said the soldier in understanding.

The Union's military of students always had qualms about relying on the Shrines for certain high level spells and applications. The shrines always supplied the ether required, especially if the country is locked in a battle. Still, for some unbenign reason, they could always withold and reject a much needed spell. That was why the Union was in search of it's own way of holding a sustainable energy source. No more waiting for spell approval from certain shrines during key moments. And ultimately, a possible solution to the apocalypse.

The small survey team reached a building that had long been broken down, a bunker. Three other signal trackers attached to several God Of War Mk II's triangulated the unknown, yet strong signal to this area.

"Okay team," said Toombs, "this is where we become immortal and forever carve our names in history."

Several other soldiers all let out a simultaneous whoop of victory. Toombs turned back, and with great effort, started to slide the steel doors aside. The steel was so heavy, it took several men to move the unlatched door whom had been sitting in that position for so long. It fell, and let out a loud, low bang when it hit the ground. The bang reverbed and echoed inside the facility. Slowly, the group entered, and brought out their lights.

"Let's go."

Inside, there had yet been a sign of any organic matter, dead or otherwise. All of it had been evaporated by the fall of the states. The walls looked baked. Many twists, many turns, and many flights of stairs led the team deeper and deeper into the facility.

The God Of Wars flying high above kept a good read on the teams position. The pope was heavily facinated by how far this ether signal extended. Sometime after his coronation, scholars had confirmed a suspicion long in research: the presence of another source of power resting in an area far from here, near the previous main land. Never had the pope expected that the signal would go out THIS far, over a thousand miles from the Testament Union's primary settlement. Scholars suspect this strange signal emits further, and possibly around the world and beyond.

"How is their progress?" asked the pope.

_"They are making sufficient progress,"_ answered the God Of War on the other end. _"We speculate the team will arrive in at the signal source in as little as thirty minutes."_

"That is good news," said Innocentious as he took a swig of wine. "That is most definitely good news."

Down another flight of stairs, the team continued to the bottom. Then, Toombs raised a hand, signalling the group to halt in their tracks. The team stopped, and listened for Toombs.

"Hey Crone," said Toombs, "what's that thing?"

The soldier named Crone looked at what Toombs was refering. A strange plaque on the wall seemed to have some sort of inscription.

"It's the first thing I've seen not completely incinerated," Toombs said. "Do you know what that is?"

Crone took another look at it. "Hmm, it looks like... English."

"English?" asked another soldier. "What in the name of the pope is that?"

"English man," Crone said. "As in England English. God you are stupid Reeves. Did you graduate with a major in Insensation?

The soldier known as Reeves looked around for a second. "N- no. What's that?"

Another soldier leaned by him, his tag read Badger. "It means stupid you moron."

"Cut the bullshit," Toombs ordered. "Crone, can you translate?"

"Of course I can, I'm from England; didn't you know that?"

Almost on cue, the group started to spout various responses related to no.

"What?" exclaimed Crone in disappointment. "I told you guys like five times I'm from England."

"Never heard," said Reeves.

Crone turned away. "Man, you guys are dicks."

"Translate the slab man," Toombs asked, now impatient.

"Okay okay, don't get your snake in a knot. The plaque says "Marker Storage", this way."

The group looked at one another. "Marker storage?" asked Badger.

"What the hell is a Marker?" Reeves said.

Toombs looked through the iron door into another dark hallway. "Don't know, but I guess we'll find out." He looked back at their fifth man, whom hadn't said a thing since they got there. "Hey Snake Eyes, you still got the Signal Tracker running?"

The tech soldier known as Snake Eyes simply nodded. Unlike the others, Snake Eyes was a dark angel, sporting demonic wings, and a slender, spike-tipped tail. Despite her appearance, she was a casual, quiet girl. "Yes sir, the signal's hot down this doorway."

Toombs looked to his group, "Well gang, let's go get us a... marker."

The squad walked down the hall rather slowly. It was a long trip, and the hall arched lower and lower into the ground. What ever this "marker" was, these people wanted to keep it hidden. The facility would've continued to hide the signal should the building, and everything around it, were not damaged and containment severed.

It took a while, but the group finally reached a huge set of iron doors. The area was untouched by debris, and an old monitor appeared to have little power.

Toombs openned his sign frame, and contacted the academy in K.P.A. Italia. "Hello, can I get a technical history expert here?"

It took several minutes, but finally, it appeared a scholar came to their call. "Yes, hello?" said a young boy's voice.

"Yes, Sargeant Toombs of K.P.A. Italia's Special Branch 044 here, we'd like a little help from the scholars at the academy."

_"Sargeant?"_ asked the boy. _"Of course, how can I help you?"_

"I need you to tell me what this thing is. It appears to be a touch screen, interactive simulation similiar to our Divine Transmission. Can you tell me how it works?"

_"Hmm, let me see..."_ said the boy. Paper could be heard being flipped through. _"Ah, yes. That's heavily simple. It seems you've found an old "panel". These panels were used by early world indiviuals as a way of controlling something called electronic circuits. They date back to-"_

Toombs swayed his hand. "Yeah yeah, listen, I didn't call to get a history lesson, I called to know how to open this door."

_"Oh, that's easy too. You simply touch the button on the mounted screen that corresponds to the local language's OPEN. If it is actually receiving power, the door should open automatically!"_

"Automatically huh?" Reeves looked about at the huge fine looking door. "Didn't think they had those."

Toombs patted Crone. "Alright, you're the Englishman; you open it."

"Got it," replied Crone. Examining the monitor, he found the words "Security Level M, Clearance to all controls granted to all individuals. Evacuate Immediately." He looked deeply at that message, did something happen here before the states crashed? He shook his head slightly and disregarded the message. "Alright, here goes nothing." He looked to the lower right hand corner, and found the panel that read OPEN. He touched it, and then the area shook, and the doors slowly openned.

"Alright men, and tengu, we're deep in. From here on out, consider anything you might see alive as a hostile."

Reeves looked his direction. "Hostiles? Dude, we are several hundred feet underground in a facility that has been long forgotten about in an uninhabitable land. What the hell's going to be down here?"

"You know the drill Reeves, don't give me bullshit. We know nothing's here, better safe than sorry though." Toombs holstered his weapon. "Hey Jinx."

Outside the area, the God of War monitoring their progress received the sargeants call. "Yes sir."

"Tell the pope we're going to have his prize momentarily. We're going to go fetch ourselves... a Marker."

**Author's End Note: So yeah, this is going to be a two part prologue. Part II being shorter than this. After the prologue is done, you can be expecting the usual cast. Don't get too used to these Prologue OC's, because well... it's a prologue. No spoilers. Hopefully, we'll get to see the other OC's like Ichijou, Hituro, Ayumi, Kazu, Kuina, and Tsukasa among the main group; we'll see how that turns out though as I finish the Prologue.**

**Well, I hope you enjoy. Dead Space fans, you know what a Marker is and what it's capable of, please don't ruin the surprise for those who don't. **

**Otherwise, if you'd like, tell me what you think. Should I continue with this idea? I don't know, I'd like to, but we'll see how things turn out in a couple more chapters. 'Kay?**


	2. Chapter 2: Prologue Part II

**Authors Note: I really hope you know what a Waster is...**

**Do note I don't own anything related to the story except characters like the Admiral and Toombs and his squad.**

The room was surprisingly lit, but the lights were dim. The area was a bright white. Black lines like that of thick circuitry isolatedly ran up and down the walls; same isolated design appeared on the capsule shaped booth in the middle of the room. Another big iron door blocked the way.

"Hey Crone, what does that say over there?" asked Toombs, only pointing at the huge letters above the door. He didn't even bother to try to read the English.

Crone took a quick look. "Oh that, yeah, that says Government Sector."

"Government Sector huh, much like what we've got going on back at base?" Reeves stated sarcastically.

The tengu nudged him. "Hey, you weren't supposed to know that. Who leaked you that information?" She laughed playfully.

"I don't know," replied Reeves, equally playing. "How about we find out-"

"Hey love birds, check this out." Toombs said, now at the side of the huge door. "Snake Eyes, what do you make of this?"

Toombs was pointing at a hacked computer console. It had wires sticking out and other circuitry. Snake Eyes simply rubbed her head. "I don't really know, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's an old terminal of some sort."

"Why'd they tear it apart? That's what I want to know."

"Obviously, they wanted to lock this door shut," Snake Eyes told him.

Reeves pulled at the door's sealing point. "Well, if they wanted the damn thing shut, they should've just hit the button."

The tengu examined the hack very closely. There was definitely riddling on multiple wires, not just the cut ones. As far as the cut ones go, there were signs of multiple attempts at cutting the wires. "Whoever did this was really lousy at it, that's for sure. Obviously, they had no real experience working with this stuff."

"So, they tried to cut multiple wires? Isn't basic military knowledge to know what wires do what when it comes to basic hacks?"

"Yes, but that's only for those training to be technicians, and over all; this place wasn't military," Snake Eyes told him.

Toombs looked about at some of the debris. Looking down, he found some really old shell casings. This surprised him slightly, such a hidden facility, and there were shots fired? The area is simply an entrance point to this Marker storage place. Did somebody try to break in? The soldier looked back at Snake Eyes and Reeves, who were trying to open the door. He looked closer to the wires. Definitely riddleling was present. But the the cuts themselves...

"Let me see that," Toombs blurted out. He got up and walked straight towards the two soldiers. Reeves and Snake Eyes aside, he examined the wires. More cuts on several wires, but it definitely wasn't random. They were all concentrated.

"So..." Crone started, "what do you think happened here?"

Toombs looked at the center wire in the concentrate area. Then, he had it all figured out. "Did you guys know there was a battle that took place here?"

The group then looked his direction, most surprised at what he said.

"Battle? How'd you figure that?" Badger asked.

Without looking, Toombs continued to fiddle with the wires, bringing out a knife. "There are shell casings over there. Take a look."

Reeves walked over and picked up a shell casing. A balistic projectile? "Bullets? These people used bullets? Lead Bullets?"

"It was attempted break in Toombs," Snake Eyes assured him. "Of course there would be a battle."

Toombs looked their direction. "And why does it have to be a break in? They never openned the doors." Toombs then cut the center wire. The panel attached to the door then read "Openning." He looked, yet the doors stayed shut. "I don't think they were even infiltrators. I think the people that fought here, were all gaurds. Gaurds, that were locked out."

"Locked out?" Reeves said. "Unbelievable. Who locks out muscle?"

"Expendables ol' chap," Badger replied. "Expendables. So sarge, why would they lock 'em out?"

Toombs looked about the immediate area, something was off alright; even after several hundred years, the place did not feel safe. "I don't know. Judging from how bad the hack is over here, I think these people were scared of something."

"Scared?" Snake Eyes laughed. "Soldiers don't get scared."

"I know," Toombs replied, "I know." He then cocks up his weapon.

Reeves then got up from his position at the shell casings and laid a firm hand on Toombs' shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing man?"

"Lock and load, soldier," Toombs told him.

Reeves could tell Toombs was being serious about all of this. However, this brown skinned soldier did not want to hear it. "Dude man, you can't be serious. How can anything be alive down here?"

"It doesn't have to be."

Reeves leaned back, dumbfounded. "God... seriously?"

"He thinks it might've been rogue automatons or something," Snake Eyes told the soldier. "Unlike us, automatons can live a long, long time without food."

"They're machines, right?" Reeves asked.

Snake Eyes nodded. "Had to be, only recently did Mikawa perfect the new 5th Gen, humanoid automated dolls."

"Right, right," Reeves told himself. "Alright guys, might be hostile autos down here. Lock your cocks."

The group then readied their weapons. Toombs headed over to a small storage door. Waving his hand over the icon, he was granted access inside due to the network being all access now. A small crawl space openned, and Toombs crawled inside. "Hey group, I'm going over here. Might be a way I can bypass the lock."

The group all took rally positions around the door. Meanwhile, Toombs crawled through. After about thirty seconds, he came face to face with an exit. He waved his hand over the icon, and the port openned up. Toombs pulled himself out, and found himself in a dark, rather small room. He looked to his right to find some un-openned lockers, all had a red glow on the center. To his left was a gradually rising ramp. With caution, he proceeded. At the end of it, he made a U-Turn and another ramp awaited him. At the top of the end, he was met with a door. Waving his hand over the icon, he openned it. Entering the room, he saw windows that looked out to the area he was in before. He could see his team several meters below.

"A lookout huh?"

Toombs then turned around, and was greeted with a carcass against the corner. "Holy-" He kept his mouth shut, and aimed his weapon at it. The corpse was huddled against the wall in a fetal position. "What the..." This person died of fear?

The corpse wore a uniform that looked like it encouraged combat. It wore an insignia similiar to what was found on the walls. A strange looking rifle was wrapped around his shoulders.

"Earth... Gov... huh? Okay, okay. So, from the looks of things, he must've been a soldier. If so, why was he here? Here, and not fighting with his comrades?"

Toombs looked out the windows again. No other corpses laid about. Blood stains were definitely present now that he looked for them. "They sure must've kept Government Sector clean if you haven't rotted out completely sir." Toombs reached for the panel that was on. The letters on it were arranged LOCKED. Toombs scratched his head. "Damn, I sure wish Crone was here..." Toombs reached for the panel and hit a button that looked like the OPEN word.

Then, suddenly, a loud sound of metal moving filled the air. The doors started to open.

Down below, the team readied themselves, shining lights everywhere. The doors then stopped.

"Yo Toombs, I think you openned it man," Reeves shouted.

In the distance, a loud roar was then heard. The team then looked back into the room. Whatever that was, was not anywhere near.

Toombs emerged from the crawl space, back with his group. "Alright guys, it's open."

"Yeah, we know genius," Reeves replied.

Toombs looked at him, slightly nodding, then at his gun. "Finger on the trigger huh? Did the door spook you?"

"What?"

Snake Eyes looked his direction. "Did, did you not hear that?"

"Hear? Hear what?"

"That- that noise just a while 'go?"

Toombs furrowed his brows in suspicion, "You sure that wasn't the door?"

"No 'hambre," Badger said. "There was huge roar, like the mountain lion."

"Mountain Lion?"

Reeves nodded. "Yeah man, like a loud growl of some sort."

"Oh," Toombs said, "okay. Okay. Well Team, we need to get that Marker."

"Dude man, whatever that was, I think it's at this Marker thing," Reeves fussed. "I don't think it's worth my life."

Toombs turned his direction. "Now wait a second, what are you?"

Reeves agrivatedly turned back. "A soldier dawg, what are you?"

"Your commanding officer," Toombs replied non-agitated. "Tell me what kind of soldier you are."

"I'm a grunt, and I'm not paid enough for shit like this. I'm paid to fight, not haul somebody else's science project."

Toombs looked him dead in the eye. "What. Kind. Of. Soldier."

Reeves looked back equally as serious. "I'm... I am a soldier of the proud K.P.A. Italia fool."

"That you are, and KPA don't back down," Toombs said sternly. "Listen up team. We don't back down. K.P.A. never backs down. We rule the land, and we rule the skies. We are eagles! Do you want to leave your mark in history? Do you want to be immortal? Then we finish this mission. Now, for the honor of the pope, for our country, let's go get this Marker."

Enthusiastically, all of the group but Snake Eyes and Reeves cheered. Snake Eyes shook her head. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," Reeves told her back. He then shouldered his weapon. "Well, let's go."

Snake Eyes looked with a hint of unbelief as Reeves walked into the dark room with the group. Reluctantly, she shouldered her own weapon and followed, followed the group into the darkness.

A whir could be heard, the deep sound of lasers firing continously at something. Machinery rotating. Toombs' group reached a door. It had panelling on it.

"Crone, read it please," Toombs said.

Crone looked at the text. "Uhm, it says 'Marker 13 Access', I guess we found it."

"Thirteen?" Toombs said. "Hey Snake Eyes, what does the Signal Tracker say."

"Tracker's hotter than it ever has been."

Toombs nodded his head. "Alright, we're in business. Snake Eyes, tell the pope we found his Marker." He reaches for the icon on the door, and hovers his hand over it. The door then opens.

"Uh Jinx," Snake Eyes called in. "We found the ether signal source."

The Pope, Innocentious, took another swig of his wine. "Ahhh, this is glorious."

"Um, your excellency," started an advisor.

"What is it?" The pope asked.

The advisor then slightly bowed. "The team has found the ether equivalent of energy."

The pope raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

Inside the lab, Toombs was heavily surprised. Four sets of triple stacked lasers were firing at some sort of structure. The structure resembled a dark purple pair of spikes hugging at one another, spiraling barely once. The tips just inches from touching one another. "Wow, will you look at that?"

"Is that the energy source?" Reeves asked. "What is it?"

Snake Eyes walked forward slightly. "I think... I think that's Marker 13."

With no hesitation, she ran for the monitors that appeared to be running the lasers. "It's still under construction." She said with surprise.

"Seriously?!" Badger said, coming over. "Well, how long 'till it's finished little lady?"

Snake Eyes looked over the panels. "According to this, the assembly should be finished right about... now."

At that second, the lasers stopped. All the lights turned off. Then, an automated voice spoke in the English language. _**"Marker Assembly Complete."**_ The lasers lifted, and the structure began to glow a dark purple, the center appeared a golden color, almost like a network of nerves fading into the dark colors.

"Wow," Reeves said lowly. "Damn, that's some hard core stuff right there."

"You bet your sweet ass it is," Toombs told him amazed. The group was about one story high above the base of the Marker XIII, and it still towered them to the roof. "This thing must be atleast three stories high."

Snake Eyes nodded, and then looked at her tracker. "Yeah, and it's definitely the source of the energy the scholars have been tracking for years now. I wonder how it works..." She reached for a red button that said in English "Push to Lock"

"Don't mess with something you're not supposed to," Crone told her.

"It's a button Englishman," she replied. "What harm has ever come out of pushing a button.

Toombs looked her way. "He said not to push-"

Without their consent, she pushed it. Then, the Marker glew a bright purple and gold, waves of energy racing to the top. Then, it all gathered, and a loud burst sounded. It sounded like a dissonent horn as the energy quickly spread, powering all the electrical equipment for a matter of seconds before it all went dark. Then, a spike in the signal read outs.

"Woah, guys look," Snake Eyes exclaimed. "The signal strength just jumped off the scale."

"What do you mean?" Toombs said.

"I don't know, look."

The group watched at the frequency the tracker picked up changed rapidly in intensity, calm one second, and then fluctuating the next. The tracker's needle was going crazy.

"Shit, what's going on?" Reeves asked.

Snake Eyes shook her head, "I really don't know, but it's like it has a mind of it's own. It's-"

Then, a loud crash could be heard, and a vent breaking.

"What was that?" Reeves said.

"I don't know," Toombs said, "spread out team."

The group went over as all the lights fades out, and a rotating orange light came up. An alarm could be heard.

_"Attention, Attention. Biological Anomaly present. Quarantine in effect."_

"Quarantine?" Reeves said, partially shaking. "What the hell man."

Toombs neared the area of the crash, he looked it over. "Hmm..."

Snake Eyes took several three sixties before shining her light Toombs' direction. "Sarge, I don't know-"

She then stopped upon seeing somebody walking up behind Toombs. The figure wore an old military uniform, and he held what looked like two fire axes. His eyes and mouth both glew and eerie orange.

"Sarge, behind you!"

"Huh?"

Toombs turned back, but before he could react, the figure slashed at him with both of his weapons. The sargeant stumbled back, his right arm now gone. Toombs' face was stricken with shock.

"SARGE!" Badger yelled. He raised his weapon and fired at the figure. "Die!"

The figure didn't appear to take any pain. He simply took what was thrown at him. It looked Toombs down as he fell to the ground. Quickly, the glowing eyed figure raised it axes and slammed both into Toomb's skull. Toombs shook slightly, then stopped.

Badger was dumbfounded. This monster killed their sarge. "Oh no. Sarge, no."

The figure looked at him, and retrieved both it's weapons; and proceeded his direction.

Snake Eyes, Reeves, Crone and Badger all fired at it's body. That only slowed it down.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Badger yelled.

Then, another crash. Right behind Badger, another person popped out. The person had it's arms raised high, bone swords erecting from their bloody hands.

Badger looked back. "Oh fu-"

He was then stabbed in the chest, and raised. The person then slashed at his head, completely decapitating him. Snake Eyes, Crone, and Reeves looked with horror, their clips emptying. The two monsters looked their directions, and advanced towards them.

"Holy shit!" Reeves said, quickly reloading.

Crone looked around quicky, he saw another door. "Come on guys, this way!"

The group quickly went for the door. Snake Eyes dropped both her weapon and the tracker in the panic. The needle constantly fluctuated.

The God of War Jinx flew high above, watching as other troop transports landed. For some wierd reason, it appeared Badger and Toombs just flatlined, and contact with the entire group was lost. "Hmm, this is not good. Hey Admiral!"

Crone, Snake Eyes, and Reeves all ran down a dark, LED lit hallway. Constantly, Reeves turned back to unload a magazine of ether down the hall into their relentless pursuers. The figure with the axes ran fast after them, faster than they were running.

"Shit man, that axe thing's catching up!" Reeves yelled.

Crone turned back and fired his semi-auto at it. "Dang, these things don't die."

Then, right above Crone, the vent busts and another figure with a glowing face falls upon him. Crone topples over, and releases his weapon. "Ahh!"

Snake Eyes turns back. "No, Crone!"

Reeves reaches for her. "Can't save him honey, we got to go!" He pulls her away, down the hall.

Crone reaches for his pistol as the axed figure takes hold of it's own weapons. "Not me, not today." The figure lunges it's axes at him as he sticks the pistol to it's head. "Take this you waster." Pulling the trigger, the waster's head is blown into tiny chunks. He laughs as the figure feels for it's head. "Hahaha, I wish you could see yourself, hohohoho-"

Crone's laugh is silenced as another axe smashes into his head. The waster following them from the Marker room caught him. The headless one did not simply fall over and die either. It got up like nothing was wrong, and proceeded with the slasher and the other waster.

Snake Eyes was crying her heart out. "Oh man, what happened? Why did that happen!?"

Reeves and Snake Eyes were hiding out in another room. It seemed Reeves used Crone as a way to buy him and Snake Eyes time to get away.

"Oh man, the sarge is dead... Sarge is dead..." Snake Eyes panicked.

Reeves looked her direction. "Shut up..." he said quietly. "Shut up damnit. They're going to hear you."

Snake Eyes looked at him. "They're all dead, we're- we're the only ones left!"

Then, a loud slap. Reeves slapped the tengu's face and grasped her. "Those things didn't start showing up until you activated that damn Marker." He then realized something. Toombs had it known that they already found the Marker. That means that Jinx already locked in the co-ordinates of their last known position. That means the whole regiment, including the extraction team, know where this Marker XIII is. If that artifact is taken back to K.P.A. Italia, wouldn't that mean the very same thing could happen over there? "Holy shit, we've got to warn the surface. Jinx, come in Jinx. Jinx!?"

The earpiece he wore only recieved static. Did- did that Marker's signal _jam_ them!?

"You've got to kidding me..."

Out of the blue, a vent bursted open. Another one of those wasters emerged.

"Ah shit!" Reeves said. He shot at it, but the figure didn't fall.

Quickly, he openned the door, but right at the openning, the first waster lunged for him, and locked him in a struggling grapple.

"Ahh-h-h-h-h, Snake Eyeeeess..." Reeves struggled to let out.

"Hurry!" She yelled, shooting her pistol at the waster headed towards her. "No, no-no-no-no-noo!"

_"Sweet Mission!"_ It said, slamming one of it's axes into her chest.

The tengu let out a loud cry. "Ahhhhh! Reeves! Help me!"

Reeves won the struggle, and knocked the waster confronting him over. He looked back at Snake Eyes, he could already tell she was a lost cause. He had to save himself. _I'm so sorry..._ He ran, and ran fast.

Snake Eyes was surprised, and weeped loudly. "Noo! Reeves!"

The other figures flooded into the room, and slashing could be heard, along with the tengu's cries of pain as she could be heard being hacked to death.

Reeves ran fast. Ahead of him, he heard more distant yells of anger. More and more of these creatures were emerging. He then slowed to a stop, and dropped his weapon. Looking behind him, he could hear the others finishing up with Snake Eyes, now coming his direction. Non calantly, Reeves leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down it until he landed on his buttox. He chuckled lightly, and took out his ear piece. He then looked at it.

"Heh, to think, I became a soldier... to die for my country." He then crushed it. "Not die... because of it."

He released his hands as several wasters and slashers closed in on him, rather slowly. Reeves closed his eyes, and saluted.

The ground around the area Jinx pointed was uprooted, and several rooms inside the underground structure were revealed and shredded through. Before long, an artifact that resemble two spiraling spikes was revealed.

"Stop," said the Admiral. "That's what we want."

Several soldiers and scholars came about and marveled at the site.

"Prep the extraction teams and ships," said the Admiral. "That's our Marker XIII"

**AUTHORS NOTE: A longer chapter, I know; but I did need the team to find the Marker. As you can see, the Marker XIII appears to be a sentient artifact; maybe it really is, maybe it isn't. We'll find out soon enough. So yeah, Toombs' team is dead, and isn't it like K.P.A. Italia to even care? All the pope wanted was his energy source... well, it looks like he has it now. As you can tell, the extraction team isn't aware of anything that's happened to the team, and likely doesn't even care. Marker XIII will be taken back to K.P.A. Italia, and that's just the end of that story, er prologue.**

**So, one thing you might wonder is, how on Earth does Musashi get involved in all of this? As you can most likely see, a necromorph will outright ruin everything there is about the world. Lots of people are going to die. The prologues place is special, mostly because almost all organic beings, alive or dead, were most likely disentigrated by the fall of the Divine States. Not that many necromorphs could be awoken. **

**Marker XIII's completion, just to clear the question, well... it was completed long before the team arrived. It just was never activated. Since we're never going to see this place (or these people) again in the next chapter and afterwards, I'll go ahead and spill the beans on what exactly happened in the facility. The previous Marker XII was activated by an indoctrinated scientist and a necromorph outbreak occured in the region. Since Necromorphs can instictively home in on non-necromorph biologicals, it was only a matter of time before they came for the Earth Gov facility. The necromorphs soon broke in, and killed everybody; there by allowing those killed to become necromorphs. Marker XII was held in a surface containment facility to be properly researched, but it was destroyed by the fall of the Divine States. Marker XIII was the only one left, and was nearing completion by that time. Since everybody had died, Marker XIII's final assembly stage, which is simply optimation and furnishing, ran for who knows how long and for how many cycles. It's simply a coincidence that Toombs' team arrived at the finish of the cycle. After the Divine States fell, the destruction destroyed Marker XII, for only the Black Marker, the original Marker, was indestructible. Why the necromorphs appeared after the Marker XIII was activated, I'll leave that for you to find out, unless you already know why.**

**With that, I hope you enjoyed the Prologue, because from here on out, it's the real deal.**


	3. Chapter 3: Humble Beginnings Be

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been a little while. Trying to get my thoughts together. I don't have permissions to use the entirety of the original characters, but I do know I have permission to use some. A couple of them, notably Ayumi and Kazu, I'll use; if the author wants them removed, he'll let me know. Knowing the group of the people that made them; I can speculate they won't mind at all. Tsk tsk. By the way, you don't have to worry about your favourite cast of characters getting mauled by necromorphs... yet.**

**Also do note that the necromorphs appear the way they do on the games; that means no anime/animation variants; it just doesn't work for them.**

**Oh yes, one more thing... Hey Isaac! You don't think you can do the disclaimer, do you?**

**ISAAC - "What? Why me? I don't even make an appearance in this, so why?"**

**ME - "You're one of my favourite protagonists; I honestly believe you need a break from necromorph slaughtering."**

**ISAAC - "Ah sweet- wait, this is really happening? Somebody else is going to take on this suicide mission!? Hellz Yeah! I've been waiting for this day! Er hem, Scorpion Mal doesn't own any of the characters or franchise regarding Horizon, nor does he own the original characters metalgearhunter calls the Special Tactical Unit Squad. He also does not own the necromorphs or God forbid The Marker."**

**ME - "Thank you Isaac, now go find a beach to relax at."**

**ISAAC - "Oh you bet I will."**

**Chapter 1**

**Humble Beginnings Before the Terror  
**

A cup slammed against the table, said cup belonged to a young woman with violet hair. She apparently was pointing at another boy a little shorter than she. "Look, all I'm saying is that there are ten times better women out there for you short stuff."

"But Ayumi..." said the boy in protest.

The violet haired girl, Ayumi, shook her head, ignoring the other boy's retaliation. "No buts about it, tell me Hituro: do you honestly think that two bit chest wolf is the best girl for you? She's not even half as skilled as you are."

"She fights decent enough," the other boy, Hituro said.

Watching the two of them bicker were two taller teenage boys. One of them had long dark hair, and sharp eyes looking over each of them. He wasn't amused by the conversation that Ayumi and Hituro were having, yet he wasn't bothered by it. He took a mug of milk tea to his mouth, and sipped slowly without a care.

The other boy was nearly the same. He wore a nice black jacket over the regular school uniform. His upper body was somewhat built; but not too large. His hair was wavy to an extent, and not too long. Sitting beside him was something that appeared to be a claymore sword. He watched Ayumi and Hituro assault each other slightly with words, Ayumi more attacking a certain wolf girl than Hituro.

"-I mean like look at her chest, it's not even as big as mine and you say you're impressed!?" Ayumi continued.

Hituro groaned slightly, "It's not about the features, how many times do I have to say that?"

"Hey Ayumi," said the second boy with the black jacket. "I don't think it's good for you talk about Mitotsudaira like that behind her back."

Ayumi looked his direction, "Don't get mixed into this Ichijou; this is between Hituro and myself."

The first boy looked her direction. "Why are you so concerned about who he likes and who he's not interested in? Why even bother with it?" He looked away, eyeing the counter where the waitress usually stands, looking in anticipation. "Unless of course you have a secret motive behind all of this..."

Ayumi simply looks at him, a question mark floating above her head. "Huh? I don't even know what you're talking about Tsukasa. You've got to be more direct with your choice of words or something-" She then stopped, finally catching the hint. The girl's face beamed red with embarassment. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what? No! Nonononoo! I don't like him like _that._ Hituro's my friend, and I-I am just looking out for his well being. That's all."

Tsukasa doesn't even bother to look back. "Whatever. It's not like I care if you like him or not."

"I. Don't. Like. Him." Ayumi says under her breath, teeth clenched.

Hituro simply waved his hand back and forth, the other behind his head. He laughed a little with nervousness. "Eh heh heh heh, come on guys; people don't fall in love with the people on their team."

"Actually, that does happen sometimes," Ichijou remarks. "Look at Toori and Horizon, and Margot and Malga, and how about Neshinbara and Neito."

"More like the author to the wolf," Ayumi blurts out, smiling with pride.

Hituro looks at her, eyeing her suspiciously. "I'm staring to get the feeling you don't like Neito very much."

"Oh, far from it," Ayumi says. "I love Mito; she's a great person." Ayumi turns away, talking in a low voice to herself. "It's the competition and that whole noble act she puts on that turns me off."

"What was that?" Tsukasa said, turning slightly.

"Trust me, that's not what I mean by 'Turns me off', alright!" Ayumi yelled.

Tsukasa just blinks, looking at her bewildered. _Lord help me if I ever figure out what goes through that girl's brain._ He then looks up to the sky. _Scratch that, figure out whatever goes through ANY girls' brain._ "I was only asking you what you said."

Ichijou nods. "Yes, if you're going to open your mouth to say something, make sure people can hear it; otherwise, you're better off not saying it at all."

Ayumi simply looked at the two of them. "Come on, everybody talks under their breath at some point. It's the best way to complain. Hituro, back me up here." She says without looking his direction.

"We're still fussing about Neito and you want me to back you up?" asks Hituro, looking at her non calantly.

Ayumi looks his direction, eyes closed, laughing slightly. Then, the doors open up.

Coming out of another door, is an automaton wearing a beige coloured apron. She bows slightly, making sure not to drop her quarry. "Welcome to Blue Thunder-"

"Hey! Horizon! Over here!" Yells an excited over zeolous boy.

A fist then hits his head. "Toori... not now." The fist and voice belonged to a female wearing a hybrid of Musashi's male and female uniforms.

The automaton, Horizon, looks blankly their direction. "Good day Masazumi; might I say you look good as always." She looks down at the hybrid uniformed individual, Masazumi, inspecting her lower garments. "Wearing boys' pants today, while it is in your nature I do advise more feminine clothing is prefered."

Masazumi looks Horizon's direction. "What's wrong with these? I've worn them for forever. Besides, I don't feel so myself in those girls' tights."

"I would prefer it," Horizon blurts out. "I need somebody to relate to."

The other boy, Toori, points towards himself. "You know you can always relate to me Horizon."

Ignoring his comment, Horizon continues chatting with Masazumi. "So, what is it I may do for you? Get you some tea, herbs, aphrodosiacs maybe?"

"Aphros?" Masazumi suddenly looks back her direction.

"That was a joke," Horizon says, not cracking a chuckle.

Masazumi stares in disbelief. "Well... stop, it's not funny."

The automaton slightly bows. "I will make sure to think more on the matter next time. In seriousness, why are you here?"

The politician looks in direction of Tsukasa and Ichijou. "You two, I need you."

Tsukasa and Ichijou look eachother's direction, then back; wondering what the politician, Masazumi, may need of them.

"As you can see, it's a big security matter," Masazumi tells them. Walking behind Ichijou and Tsukasa, are Hituro, Ayumi, Horizon, and Toori. Masazumi continues with her brief. "We don't know why, but another store in the shopping district has been attacked."

Ichijou scratches his head slightly. "Eh, another one? This is the third one this week."

"It doesn't help that it's only Tuesday," scoffs Tsukasa. "Let me guess, more Tres Espanian sympothizers?"

Masazumi nods. "Looks that way. This is a big deal, seeing as we are currently on our way to the Peace of Westphalia to ascertain the rest of the Deadly Sin Armaments. If we go in, and we're being attacked by our own people; that'll really make us look bad."

"Peace of Westphilia? That quickly? Wow, I thought it'd take longer than that," Hituro says, surprised by the information. "Where is it taking place?"

Horizon lifts up her index finger. "It was going to take place at one of the Conjunction Islands in Marytime Nuetral Zones; but the facility placed there was attacked recently by ships not affaliated with the Testament or related."

"You mean those ships with that spiral symbol and crazy devout belief of unity or something like that. Those people piss me off." Tsukasa says in discord.

Ichijou leaned Masazumi's direction. "That area was attacked by Unitologists?"

Masazumi nods. "Yep, so now the world of the Testament is holding the meeting at one of K.P.A. Italia's private islands called Sanction. The pope himself promised us safe passage, docking, and hospitality without antagonistic views in KPA territory. The Peace of Westphilia is supposedly where this whole war ends; but unfortunately, if our idiotic, perverted leader can't get all the armaments to make Horizon whole, then one can only accurately assume the war will not end, and we'll be treated immediately as a threat by all the other nations out there."

Ayumi looks at all of them. "Um, Masa-sempai?"

"Yes?" Masazumi looks her direction.

"What's a Unitologist?"

Ichijou, Tsukasa and Masazumi all collectively look at one another, then back at her. Masazumi reaches over, and pulls her close. "Don't worry, you're not left far behind. The Testament only recently found this out as well. Let's see... a Unitologist is somebody that believes in a cultist religion of unity or something."

"They're also only found on the other side of the world, and presumably beyond the stars aswell," Ichijou tells her.

Masazumi chuckles slightly. "As impossibly as it seems, we're not the only surviving nations out there. There's a whole 'nother group of people far off in the distance, on the other side of the world living completely different lives. Only recently did we find out about them."

"We've only seen a certain faction called Unitologists so far, presumably, they're not the nice ones." Tsukasa said.

"Yeah, they keep going on and on about making them whole, becoming one, or something about a Marker," Masazumi continued. "I don't know what any of it means, but it might have something to do with why they're raiding all the K.P.A. facilities."

Ayumi eyed Masazumi curiously. "They're only attacking facilities they assume to be K.P.A. owned?"

Tsukasa nods. "Yep, but you don't have to worry about this meeting being attacked. England, K.P.A Italia, and Tres Espana, amongst others, are pooling multiple student and shrine resources into making sure Unitologists don't get through and wreck everything."

Ayumi blinked in wonder. "Huh, is that so. Never thought everybody would work together on this. Why don't we just speak to their leader and tell them we know nothing about a Marker?"

"Don't know," Masazumi answers. "All I do know is that the pope is more worried about them than he is us. After all, the Peace of Westphilia is ultimately about us all working together to stop the apacolypse. Musashi's already promised not to be physically hostile, as have all the other nations; so really the only thing we need worry about is a surprise attack from a group of people we basically know nothing about."

"As a plus, their eyes look weird," Tsukasa chimes in.

"They seem to be American, what did you expect?" Masazumi retorts.

Horizon lays her head against Masazumi's shoulder, and wraps her arms around her own. "I ask because I do not know, but what is an 'A-mer-ri-can'?"

Masazumi herself looks up in wonder. "You know, I don't really know either..."

Everybody stays silent slightly. "Either way, the store we talked about at the beginning of this is over there; please go handle the problem."

"Sure thing," Ichijou says confidently. Tsukasa and himself then walk over to the the small group of people yelling and screaming at a store that supposedly denies sales to Tres Espanan refugees and people against the idea of world war.

Masazumi lays back, looking to the sky. _Gees, I sure hope Danik doesn't try anything at this meeting. That would horrible._ She then looks back at the group, then at Horizon, noticing how close she's clinging on. "Um... can I help you?"

"Just letting me stay where I am is help enough."

Masazumi simply nods. "Oh, okay..." She looks away, slightly weirded out.

"So," Hituro starts. "Unitology huh? Where'd you come up with that one?"

"Come up?" Masazumi questions. "What, no. I didn't come up with it, it's the truth. Look, you may not believe it, but England still likes us; and what ever information they come across from the Testament Alliance, they relay to us. The whole idea of people living outside what the Testament believed to be the habitable world is still far fetched, but it's true. There are people on the other side of the world with ships and the like, and they don't like us very much. Don't be fooled, they're tech isn't as optimized as ours, but it's very different, and that's bad for us. They don't use Ether."

Hituro blinks slightly, then become surprised. "Wait, so you're really not making this up? There's really a chance the Peace of Westphilia could be attacked?"

Masazumi nods. "Yep, that's entirely correct. We could very well be attacked by people that have no real motives except their strong beliefs, and believe me; they believe strongly in this religion. England tells of Unitologist giving their own lives for this Marker. If anybody would really want to take everybody out, the Peace of Westphilia is their best chance."

Hituro looks downwards in dismay. _Wow, how do we fight an enemy we absolutely know nothing about? They don't use ether either? What do they fight with then?_

"But, that doesn't mean to say that we've need to worry. If they don't use ether, then their not that strong. I'm pretty sure even Musashi by itself could handle a bunch of unorganized cultists." Masazumi says, reassuring Hituro.

Hituro smiles, but then, the voice of the captain breaks through the air.

_"We will be docking at the Island Sanction of K.P.A. Territory in thirty minutes. Defenses will be armed as several other ships are seen in the vicinity and on radar. It is assumed their defense systems are active aswell."_

"Well, what do you know," says Masazumi. "We'll be there soon, and then this meaningless war will end. Soon, we won't have to worry about fighting again."

A ship lifts off into the distance. Drawn on it's red doors is a symbol of an artifact that appears to spiral around itself. At a dock appears to be another ship, with several men entering it. Standing outside it is a man overlooking the area. He appeared to be slightly larger, and wore glasses.

"Well, it's near that time. I do sure hope they lead us to our salvation this time. It won't be long now."

Another man pats the larger man on the shoulder. "Danik sir, we're ready."

"Oh good. Let's go see if these wierdos will actually give us what's rightfully ours now."

The man, Danik, boards the larger ship, as it takes off. Seen in the horizon are several other ships similiar all launching in the same direction.

"It's time the Testament join in our ranks... The Marker has a plan... for all of us."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I sure do hope you like this chapter. I worked hard on trying to figure out how to get all this started, but I think I know now. I do have ideas in mind that many of you might not like, but these only relate to setting as far as I'm aware. I originally do not know where this Peace of Westphilia is supposed to take place, but I can always change that later. Obviously, Sanction Island is made up. Don't worry, we'll get into the story soon.**

**By the way, if you haven't played Dead Space 3, then you should know that Danik is the leader of the Unitologists. By the time, the Unitologists are bound to have taken over what part of the world they live in. I'm sorry if you don't like the idea of people living in the other side of the world, but it's the only way I can fit the Dead Space world into the Horizon world as of this moment. But, when settings change, and the cast finds themselves into a situation they know nothing about, then you might see how it works. Otherwise, please leave your feed back, and let me know if I can continue to use the original characters. Thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Pieces of Westphalia

**Author's Note: Unfortunately, I have a "sister" sitting next to me while I'm writing this, so I think I'm going to get nagged by what I use, and how I word things, but alas, I don't use much curse words anyway. Oh yeah, I'm also sorry for how long it's taken me to update, but I also have a bunch of other projects I'm working on as well. Not only that, but I was also waiting for a certain somebody to give me appropriate permissions to use his/her characters. And now, I have the ability to use the whole of the "Special Tactics Unit". By the way, I've only seen the anime, and have no idea of how the Peace of Westphalia will actually play out, so as it always has been, I'll improvise based on the knowledge I know from the anime. Now, without further adeu, let's get to the chapter; but first, the disclaimer. Sister Kate Takayama, if you will.**

**[KATE] - "Again, another person whom isn't in the story, but this time you've gone too far; pulling in somebody who is not affaliated with ANY of the series' related to this fic. What's wrong with you?"**

**[ME] - "Nothing really... okay, well... No, nothing's wrong with me. What's so bad about asking you to do this? I asked politely. Besides, I chose you because you're not a tsundere or whatever that cliche stereotype is."**

**[KATE] - "Hmm, true. God will award those who stay faithful to their word, so I shall. Er hem, the characters and setting in this story are not owned by the author of the fic. Any likenesses to any real persons are coincidential. There, did I do good?"**

**[ME] - "Excellent work sister. Now, without further adue, let the chapter begin."**

**[KATE] - "You already said that last line..."**

**Chapter 2**

**The Peices of Westphalia  
**

The Pope sat his glass of wine down with a rather loud thud. The servants standing next to him did not even react. He watched as more and more nations' representatives sat in the rather large circular room. Each kiosk that was stationed was decorated with odds and ends that represented that desk's respective nation; and was non-descriminant in design.

"So," started the Pope Innocentius, "How much longer should I wait to get this meeting underway?"

A member of the Pope's most inner circle quickly came his direction. "We only need wait for the representatives of three other nations: England, IZUMO, and the Far East's Musashi."

"Musashi, eh?" the pope rhetorically asked. "Oh well, they deserve to atleast speak for themselves. Maybe they'll actually be smart enough to end this stupid world war. Lord knows nobody is going to give up their Deadly Sins Arma."

The follower bowed. "Tes."

Masazumi looked over her uniform. She was glad she could wear boys' clothes and not look weird in them. Though now that everybody knew she was a girl, she couldn't help but feel like she was being judged. She looked over at Horizon, who was getting her own uniform in shape. "Hey, Horizon."

"Hello Masazumi," said the automaton in a monotone. "What is it that you need?"

Masazumi was nearly embarrased to be asking such an obvious question. She excelled at politics, but when it came to people stuff like this, especially _this_, she didn't like openning up. But Horizon was different. As far as she could remember, Horizon was her first friend on _Musashi_. "Do I-" Masazumi stopped, stopped long enough to get Horizon to stop fiddling with her own uniform to actually pay physical attention. "Do I look... awkward, in this uniform?"

Without even thinking, Horizon spoke her mind. "I think you do not look awkward. Everybody is used to seeing you in boys' clothes. So no, you do not look awkward from a generic stand point. As far as what _I_ think, I think you look rather dashing."

"Oh, really? Thanks."

Horizon simply nodded, and got back to fixing herself. Then, the doors openned up to reveal two more automatons, 'Musashi' and 'Musashino'.

"We are ready to attend to the meeting, over," said 'Musashi'

Musashino simply bowed slightly.

"What about that idiot Aoi?" Masazumi asked.

Musashino tilted her head slightly, signalling an acknowledgement. "Judge, he and the others are ready."

Masazumi nodded. "Ah, good good... so what males besides the chancellor did we have to represent, and who's our body gaurds?"

The captain quickly brought up a log. "A complete list of our elected representatives. Female Standings are Masazumi Honda, Captain 'Musashi' and Captain 'Musashino'; Male Standings are Toori Aoi, Ichijou Tadagatsu, and Toussaint Neshinbara; the Sovereign is Horizon Ariadust; and our body gaurds are Mitotsudaira and Hituro."

The politician quickly lit up. "Ah, that's good." _I'm glad to see we actually have competant people on the males' side._ "Alright, let's go."

The _Musashi_ group walked in quietly. Sitting down before they entered the huge ocular chamber was the group from England. Masazumi looked their direction to see the Queen. The Queen looked stern, until she spotted them and lightened her face a bit and waved. Masazumi couldn't help but wave back. Quietly, she took her seat, along with other representatives and surveyed the area. Hituro and Neito took their positions in the areas appointed for that nation's gaurds.

"Alright, is everybody here?" the Pope asked in a booming voice.

One of the servants quickly went his direction and whispered something in his ear. The Pope simply nodded, and brushed him away. Neshinbara could see that the Pope's face took on a slight look of disappointment.

"Well," started the Pope rather hesitantly, "it appears that the representatives for IZUMO have not arrived yet. We shall give them ten more minutes, otherwise, we begin without them."

And then it started, the timer was counting, and everybody sat patiently. Minute after minute passed as Masazumi sat back, and leaned around. Out of everybody in the _Musashi _group, she was the most relaxed. While the others would occationally do something minor, 'Musashi' and 'Musashino' would not budge. Masazumi leaned her head back, relaxing it onto something very soft and cussiony.

"Wow, how long has it been already?"

She looked up a bit more to see 'Musashino' looking her in the face rather closely. "It's been nine minutes, eighteen seconds Masazumi. Would you like to keep your head upon my busom until such time passes?"

Quickly she shot up, and waved her hands in front of her. "Woah, I'm sorry- I didn't mean to lie down on you. I-" She then stopped and immediately looked at her hands, opening and closing as if she was groping the air in front of her. "I didn't think they'd be _that _soft."

"It's only natural you wouldn't know what breasts felt like," the automaton said non-calently.

Masazumi got a near dissappointed look on her face. "You don't even sound like you tried to hold back on that fact..."

"Ooh, Masazumi..." Toori started. "Could it be you swing that way? Because if you did, that would be glori-"

Swiftly and firmly, the politician struck at the head of Toori. Her face was mixed with embarrassment and anger. Of all people to have as the head rep, it had to be him. Masazumi could already hear the chuckles and snarls of the people around them.

Hituro kept a clear mind. And focused. The group from IZUMO still weren't here, what could be keeping them? Knowing how important this meeting is, surely they aren't just "fashionably late". No, something was holding them up, something was wrong.

Again a servant went to the Pope, and whispered something. The Pope let out a huge sigh of dissappointment. "Ahh... it can't be helped I guessed. Alright everyone, it appears that the representatives of IZUMO could not make it to this meeting, so we will proceed without their invoice. Are all other nations accounted for?"

Almost in unison, the other nations said their versions of 'yes' and acknowledged the Pope.

"Alright then, without further adue-" the Pope then let out a light cough. "Erm, let's get started. The first topic at hand is the most important: The progress of history's reenactment."

Masazumi could feel a tight pull in her chest. _Here we go..._

"History Reenactment has made a huge stride. Progress is sufficient," says the Pope. He looks slightly over at _Musashi's_ direction. "However, it is not as sufficient as it **should** be. As all nations know, there is a certain nation, more specifically, a certain scientific ship, that chooses to defy all of what the Testament is, orders, and offers. We are all also here on account to the world staged war that said nation has issued with the other nations. Musashi, what say you?"

The group of _Musashi_ turned their heads all Masazumi's direction. This was her battlefield. Masazumi stood sternly.

"Your Holiness, we are but a nation under seige. Unlike the other nations here, we do not have equal standing amongst them, even though we have the resources, man power, economy, and military to compare. Not only that, but we do not officially own any Deadly Sin Arma, even though our late soveriegn hand crafted them and even poured his own daughter's emotions into powering them. The Testament Union sought to put us under their control by denying us our rightful power which are the Deadly Sin Arma; we have been discrimated because the Testament Union felt we'd turn on them if we held such powerful weapons. As another outright inhumane tactic of control, our academy can not keep students, they must graduate at the age of eighteen or lower; while no other nation is under such academic limits."

Masazumi paused slightly, allowing all to ingest the information she just fed them.

"We wish to correct these errors by not only proving we are independant; but by proving we have the military capabilities to fight back against this discriminating seige, and by most importantly making our sovereign, Horizon Ariadust whom is right beside me, a whole complete person."

A man from the Svet Russ area stood. "But your soveriegn is only an andriod, a machine. There is no way it could become a sovereign. Not just that, you're incorrect about the Far East not receiving a Deadly Sin Arma, it has been confirmed that Princess Ariadust itself is a Deadly Sin Arma, and not only just one, but the control hub of the Armas."

"That is true, but nobody knew at the time of distribution that she would be one," Masazumi stressed.

Horizon simply took a sip of tea. "By the way, we actually prefer the term 'Automaton', and I'd like to be called a she when using pronouns, as the term it incorporates that I am cold and void of feeling or concern."

Neito nods, along with Hituro, who takes a proud stance.

Masazumi too nods in approval of Horizon's opinion. "See, that only proves she's more than capable of becoming a complete person. The first automaton to feel emotions. As you all know, the Deadly Sin Arma are all forged with Horizon's emotions as their bases. To complete our quest to become an independant nation and outright end this world war we've waged on the other nations, we respectfully request that each nation grant us what's rightfully ours: The other remaining Deadly Sin Arma."

Margot stood gaurd on a high tower with a guard from Tres Espana. She looked around the area. "I can only imagine they're about half way done with the meeting by now. They've been in there for a while now. I doubt they'd hold it up for IZUMO, especially with how late they are."

The guard nodded slightly. "Yeah, I can bet they- wait a minute." He looked out further. "What is that?"

Margot looked at him. "What do you see?" She looked at what he was looking at in the distance. She then ran and got a telescope from a nearby post, and came back. The seraphic then peered through. Looking through the zoomed glass, she could see the siloutte of a big ship. "Hey, guess what: I think IZUMO's finally arrived."

The gaurd looked at her in surprise. "Wow, really? That's tight, let me see."

With a smile on her face, she handed him the seeing eye-glass. He looked through quickly. His smile was bright, but it soon faded to a look of concern. Margot noticed this.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

The guard shook his head. "Something isn't right, those don't look like IZUMO ships... they don't fly flags like that. What's with that twisted symbol on them, and-" He tuned it to zoom in. Focusing for a few seconds, his expression dropped. "Oh... no..."

Margot then got worried. "What, what's going on?"

"...unitologists..."

"What? Could you speak up, I can't hear you," Margot said.

He looked her direction. "Unitologists. Go. Go now! Tell the Pope that Unitologists are attacking!"

Margot could sense the urgentness in his voice. Whatever these guys are, they're bad news. Quickly, she flew down towards the courtyard. Looking at the horizon, she could see a huge building. It was designed much different from the others on the island. She wondered what was inside. Then, the image dissappeared behind a layer of stone bricks. The seraphic landed, and quickly made her way inside.


	5. Chapter 5: Danik

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it so long guys. When you got a lot going on, well, you got a lot going on. Eitherway, I don't plan on abandoning this story anytime soon. I love Horizon, and I love Dead Space. Anyway, we're starting to get into some deep material here, so yeah. To make up for the delay, you'll notice too chapters have came up at the same time. So yeah. No cheesy disclaimer this time, and I don't think there will be since we're actually getting into some serious stuff.**

**Chapter 3**

**Danik  
**

"So, that's it then?" asked the Pope. "Well, I hate to say this but... the other nations have already told their answer prior to this meeting: No, they will not relinquish their amaments."

Masazumi's expression sank. "You've got to be kidding me. You do realize that all these years, we've been stolen from!? I can't help it that the Far East had a talented creator. I don't even see the moral reasons as to why you would hold out on us. Why!? What do you have against _Musashi_, the Far East? Do you honestly think we're going to turn around and take over the world. Once the Deadly Sins have all come together and make our soveriegn whole, they'll lose their destructive powers; so all in all, there is nothing to worry about."

Then, a boastful laugh filled the air. It was the laugh of the busty representative of Hexagon Francias, Turrenne, Neito's mother. "Oh come now child; that only gives us all more of a reason to _keep_ the armaments. Besides, we've all witnessed what happens when _your_ Deadly Sin Armament comes in contact with the others: they gain more power. How can you be certain they'll really lose their power?"

"Because our sovereign will have all her emotions then. Horizon is a peace loving girl, the last thing she'd wish for is war-" Masazumi quickly looks up to the ceiling to find debris falling. Everybody stayed silent and still. Faint explosions could heard outside the chambers.

Juana of Tres Espana's representatives looked the Pope's direction. "Is it just me or do you hear explosions?"

Then, the doors flew open. Margot Knight swooped in and came to a sudden stop. "Guys! There are these things called Unifolders attacking us!"

"What!?" exclaimed the Pope Innocentius. "Unitologists!? Why now?"

Masazumi quickly got up, and rushed Margot's direction. "What do mean? Are you serious about this, is it really Unitologists?"

Margot looked aside, a clenched hand next to her mouth. "I-I don't know. The Tres Espanan Gaurd I was positioned with told me that it was those Unithingies. I really have no idea."

She gasps as the area shook more intensely. Several bystanders were brought to their knees due to the force.

A K.P.A. Italian gaurd rushed to the pope's aid. "Your Eminence, we need to get you out of here."

Innocentius shook his head. "No, we can't leave this place yet, the meeting has yet to con-"

Suddenly, the doors flash open. Walking in, armed with strange weapons emitting lasers were men clad in weird uniforms.

"Get down! Get down now! All of you!"

More rushed in, and then a more unique individual came in. He was clad in a heavy white suit. He wore glasses, and his face was shaped more like a square.

Masazumi examined the man whom walked with authority. She took a good look at his eyes through his spectacles. _Man, that guy's eyes look so weird. He definitely is not from around here._

"My, oh my Mr. Pope," spoke the man. "Holding a meeting, and not even inviting your over seas friends?"

"Bastard!" Yelled a K.P.A. Italian gaurd, aiming his ether rifle at him.

A loud pop filled the air. Masazumi covered her ears at the sound, it surprised her intensely. Her eyes teared slightly. She looked back at the man to find he shot the poor soldier. Blood spurted out of the soldier's forehead as she saw he shot him perfectly in the cortex. The soldier then fell over. _You've got to be kidding me, these people use ballistics!?_

"Now," started the man. "I'll be joining this little get-together, and taking charge. My name is Danik; and I'm the current leader of the Church of Unitology: the strongest religious movement in the galaxy..."

As Danik walks around the area monologing, Margot looks quickly at her group. Hituro and Neito looked like they had surrendered, but she knew that they were all planning. The reps were in disarray, all except Horizon whom was casually sitting back.

"... and we are looking for our divine relic, which we've found on this island. You all would've done better to leave it where you found it, because it is rightfully ours." Finished Danik.

Then, a chatter on the radio came out. _"Danik sir, we've found the Marker. It's heavily defended, but our gunships are taking care of everything. We'll have it soon."_

Danik smiled. "Good, I'm satisfied. When you have it secured, allow me to activate it."

"Activate it?" Asked Innocentius. "What do you mean activate it?"

Danik grabbed his hands. "All questions will be answered in good time your Emminence. Surely you know what the Marker truly is, correct? Or is it... that in all your years of studying the divine creation of God, you've yet to figure out what exactly it is." Danik then pushes him away. "Secure everyone, take them to a place where we can all see the Marker shroud, I want all to see what happens when it's turned on."

"Noo!" Yelled Margot, flailing her wings.

The unitologist soldiers sorrounding the _Musashi_ group all got knocked over. Hituro and Neito quickly brought out their respective weapons and fought off other Unitologists whom tried to apprehend them.

Ichijou quickly hit the door behind the group, openning it. He then took out Maken. "Alright, let's go guys! Back to the vessel!"

The group of Musashi then all collected themselves and ran, all but Masazumi whom was in shock from what Danik did earlier.

Neshinbara ran over to her. "Hey, Masazumi, we got to go. Masazumi?"

"He- he... He killed him. He killed him!"

Margot flew over to the two. "Go commander, I'll take care of Seijun."

Neshinbara nodded, and quickly ran through the door. Margot kneeled down to Masazumi. "Don't worry, I got you."

She then noticed laser dots on her hands. The saraphic quickly looked up to see several Unitologists aiming at her.

"Now we got you heathen!"

The soldiers then all fired. Margot gasped, and quickly covered her and Masazumi with her wings. The firing then ceased. She looked up surprised to see that she or Masazumi were not hurt. The soldiers were reloading. Margot then smiled. "Oh, out of bullets? My turn!" She then violently flapped her wings, creating a powerful whirlwind around the two. The force of the wind was so strong, it sent the Unitologists hurling at the walls. Margot quickly hoisted Masazumi, and flew out the door, following the rest of the group.

Margot looked behind her. _Gees, I sure hate to leave the other nations behind like that, especially England..._ Margot bowed her head, then looked ahead, a fiery passion burning in her eyes. What was this feeling? She looked at Seijun, who was finally regaining herself.

Masazumi smiled at her, then gasped loudly and pointed in front of them. "Look out!"

Margot looked back up ahead to see a Unitologist jump far ahead infront of them. He had a bulky weapon in his arms, and the laser aim assists seemed to be dual instead of the Nuclear Quad pattern. He then fired, and a rocket came out.

"Ah! What is that!?" Margot then flew around the ordinance and took a tight turn to the right. A loud bang followed behind them.

Masazumi looked up at her face. "That was a rocket propelled explosive projectile. I don't know where they got these weapons. They're not even making offerings." She then looked back ahead. "Go this way, and we'll catch up with the rest of the group."

Margot and Masazumi finally caught up with Neshinbara, and the rest of the group who were just docking on Musashi. Unitologists ships were landing everywhere, but none attempted to shoot at the huge vessel.

"I'm guessing the captain activated stealth mode?"

'Musashi' nodded. "Judge, the current captain I left in charge Okutama saw to it to activate stealth mode as soon as unknown ships entered this air space without identifying itself. Over."

Masazumi smiled. "Good, then let's get out of here."

"But what about England? And everybody else?" asked Ichijou.

The politician turned sternly. "We've got worry about our own people first. What kind of people are we if we risk the lives of the good people on this ship, huh?"

Ichijou was startled, and defeated. There's no way he could counter that statement. Masazumi was right, think about your people first. There's no way she's being selfish. Like the people, she also wants to be safe too.

'Musashi' nodded. "Confirmed. Masazumi-sama, 'Okutama' has told me that we'll be taking off in five minutes. The engines are warming up."

Danik lead the way as the pope and other representatives followed in the arms of the Unitologists. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I went through to find your little hiding place. The people you left behind all those years ago definitely did tell us that Earth wasn't a lost cause. At least not anymore."

Innocentius kept his pride, and also kept his mouth shut.

"You people seriously have no idea how out gunned you are. Although, I do admire what you've done. You've found a clean and reliable source of energy, aether was it called? Not that I mind it, but you do need to realize the benefits of petroleum and coal." Danik then laughed. "I do have to say, you were pretty stupid to arm all of your weapons with something as non-lethal as aether. Yeah, it can burn, but it definitely doesn't leave the same impact as this does."

Danik then took his pistol and shot the Pope in the arm. Another loud pop filled the air. Innocentius then gritted his teeth, his eyes began to swell red. He gripped his arm.

"Your Emminence!" Yelled Juana, reaching out for him.

"Quiet yourself scum," said a soldier, hitting her on the back with his Pulse Rifle.

Danik just continued up ahead. "See? You see what you made me do? Aether will burn you, but it won't leave a hole like that, not like a single bullet does."

Innocentius grunted. "It's called-" he coughed. "It's called Ether you idiot."

"I know, Aether. Ah, here we are."

The group all came up to an open area, and a huge window took up the wall. Ahead far away was a large stretched dome building.

"Do you all see that?" Asked Danik. "That is where our salvation lies. Now, the next step is ascention: that basically means activating it. Now, all of you... will be reborn."

Elizabeth looked around frantically. She looked down at her hands. Then, she felt a light thump.

"Pay attention your highness," Danik tells her. "Watch."

He lifts his arm. Held in it, is a small device with a blue button.

Masazumi was glad to be leaving and those Unitologists not even detecting them. She did wonder one thing though, why did _all _the ships land. The ship was already several hundred feet in the air, and the dock was closed off. Then, something happened.

Danik pressed the button. A beep was heard, and it was followed by explosions. The explosions came from the dome like building. And then, it was revealed. A rather large helix structure almost two stories tall could be seen in the distance. In a flash, the sky glew red, and a loud horn was heard. Shockwaves emitted from the helix as the whole place shook.

A loud horn was heard, causing all in the _Musashi_ dock to close their ears tightly. Several lights all flickered, and soon all turned out. Neshinbara could feel the ship shaking violently.

_"Attension everyone, urgent warning. Brace yourselves, for the ship has experienced an unexpected surge of loss of power-"_

Then, the group all felt the ship fall, and it fell fast. The group all let out a scream. Ichijou looked downwards as he saw himself levitate due to speed the ship fell. Glass walls slid down seperating the group from several gaurds on the other side of the docking room. Then, everything came to sudden stop, and ship finally came to a resting point.

Masazumi opened her eyes slightly. Was she still... alive? She looked up to see she wasn't hurt at all. She looked at everybody else. Out of everyone, Hituro was the only one who appeared to be injured. Did he do something keep us all from getting hurt? Masazumi rushed over to him. "Hituro! Are you okay?"

Hituro looked up. "Yeah, I'm- I'm alright. I managed to cussion myself too. If anything, I'm as badly hurt as you might be from the crash. What happened?"

Ichijou got up. "I don't know. I'm sure Kuina could tell us if we can find her."

Masazumi nodded. "Yeah, we need to regroup with the rest of 3-Plum. Is everyone okay?"

Toori gave a thumbs up, as did Neshinbara and everyone else who was coming to. Masazumi smiled. "Alright, let's go-"

She stopped to see the glass walls seperating them from the doors to the rest of the ship. "Oh man. We got to get those up." She then noticed the two gaurds on the ground. "Hey, Hituro, are they... dead?"

Hituro looked. "Yes, they are. After the security panels came down, my power was restricted to this side of the room."

"How'd you do it?"

He smiled as he held up one of his chrome spheres. "These things are pretty handy in hyper mode."

"Ah, alright. Well, let's get these panels up."

Margot got up and walked to them, and started to try to heave them. She struggled, but couldn't. She looked at the dead soldier ahead of her. _Poor guy..._ "Huh?"

"What is it Margot?"

Ichijou crossed his arms. "Those panels can only be openned from the other side, we'll have to force our way in."

Margot shook her head. "It's not that, look. He's still alive."

The others all got surprised by that. Hituro shook his head. "That's not possible. The force of the crash should've killed him, and-and everyone else on board that didn't find a cussioned area!"

"Wait, you mean _EVERYBODY _is dead?" Masazumi said shocked.

Hituro scratched the back of his head. "Well yeah, they _should_ be. It's something I learned during my training as a _gravity_ swordsman." He put emphasis on the gravity.

Margot pointed at the gaurd who was now getting up. The gaurd had two fire axes in his hands. "Then what is he doing... getting... up?"

The guard fully stood up, and looked at the group. His eyes and mouth glew a deep yellow, and he didn't look so alive after all.

Masazumi looked at the gaurd, then witnessing the second one get up. "What... the hell? What on Earth is going on here?"

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Am I progressing the plot too fast? Some of you may think that, but I'm just doing it how the guys that make the Dead Space stories would. The excitement has got to come at sometime, so yeah. As for Comic Relief and stuff, I'll have some characters do it, but as far as chapters go, I'll start a whole new story for that, as side stories like that don't belong in the main story. **

**If you have any questions about Dead Space, do ask me, I've played all three main games a bunch, and back to back, so I should be able to give you any kind of canon information regarding the games, as this is what the story is based off of. Again, I haven't read the novels, and don't plan to anytime soon. Thanks!**

**Anyway's, thanks for reading and please leave something, anything helps with motivation and what not. Tell me what you think, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Fall

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, we're finally there. The beginning of the end for the huge vessel called **_**Musashi**_**. The Marker 13 has been activated, by Danik non-the-less. Now, the question is, how will the group get through this? Will they also find the rest of their classmates who might be dead already? Here's to hoping... let's see where my imagination takes me, and you.**

**Chapter 4**

**The Fall  
**

The two gaurds stood up, both of their eyes glew a deep pale yellow. Masazumi stared with disbelief.

"There's... no way..." stammered the young politician. "There's just no explanation."

Neshinbara looked at both the men with anxiety in his eyes. _What on Earth..._ It didn't make sense. According to Hituro, they should be dead. A lot of people should be dead actually. Why weren't they?

Margot took a good look at the two gaurds. Something about them was just... off. "Hang on, we're going to get to you! Just stay where you are." She then looks over to Ichijou's direction. "Ichijou, do you know how we're going to get out of here?"

The young man she was addressing was pushing himself against a wall, using his shoulder as leaverage. "No way, this room is... sealed shut." He stopped, and then pointed towards the glass wall the two gaurds were opposite of. "That's our only way out."

"Then we must break the glass," said Margot confidently. She turned towards the glass wall. "My wings should be strong enough to do just the trick- what are they doing?"

She pointed at the two gaurds whom were now lifting the tools they had in tow. They raised them above their heads, then smashed the sharpest points of them into the glass wall with incredible force. The glass started to shatter. One tool at a time, the two gaurds smashed at the glass.

Masazumi observed, her whole body shaking from the earlier incident. "What's wrong with them? Why are their eyes glowing?"

On the other side of the room, Hituro drew out his blade. _I don't know what's going on, but something is telling me these gaurds are not the people they used to be. No properly trained gaurd would just hack away at whatever's in front of them._ His eyes then widened. "Margot! Get away from there! Now!"

The saraphic looked over his direction, her face riddled with question. "Huh, why?"

Then, in a flash, the glass wall shattered. Everybody covered themselves, the glass shattered into a ton of tiny shards. The glowing eyed gaurds then came rushing towards the students.

Margot stepped back slightly from shock of the impact, but quickly recovered. She looked to see the first gaurd run right for her. With open arms and a smile, she welcomed him.

"No! Margot!" Hituro cried out.

The gaurd rushed for her, and swiftly lifted it's weapons.

Margot could sense the attack the second he moved, and reacting quickly, she raised her wings to cover herself. Then, a splosh.

Masazumi covered her mouth at the sight of blood now gushing out of the saraphic's wings. Whatever that creature was, it embeded both it's tools into the girl's fore wings.

Margot stepped back, her eyes shrunk from the pain and shock. "Ohh... ow," she whispered. Stepping back, her heel struck a metal beam behind her, causing her to fall over on her backside. She watched helplessly as the gaurd reached for her.

"Noo!" yelled a young man's voice. "Don't you touch her!"

A sword then slashed at the creature. Margot looked to see her savior was Ichijou. His sword, Makin, didn't seem to completely slash through the creature's arm. "Ichi... jou."

"Hang on Margot, we're going to get you some help." He then looked back at the gaurd, who raised it's weapons. "I don't know what the hell's wrong with you, but you're going to pay for hurting my friend; and unfortunately for you, I'm not in a very good mood!" He then lifted his sword, and slashed away at the creature. Slash after slash, he didn't stop, and neither did it. _Damn it, what is this thing? It isn't going down, it's like it doesn't even feel me slashing at it._ He let out a war cry as he charged a finishing blow, and then with extreme force, brung the divine sword crashing down on the gaurd's head. A sicking sound of crushing bone filled the room as the creature's head burst. Jaw bones and grey matter, plus blood, flew across the room. The skull practically busted into several large peices, and the creature fell down to rest on it's back. The young man smiled. "Heh heh, that's what happens when you mess with-"

"Ichijou!" yelled Neito. "Behind you!"

Ichijou turned about face to find the second gaurd lunge at him. In quick response, he raised Makin to meet the two axes the gaurd held. Sword met axe, the two locked in a desperate struggle. Ichijou looked into the hollow glowing eyes of the gaurd. It's mouth widened and let out a ghostly moan. It didn't even look like it was struggling. Ichijou's legs then began to shake. "Wow, for something thats- that is dead, you sure are tough sons of bitches, aren't you?" He grunted in struggle. There was no contest, this creature was definitely stronger than he was. Any second now, he would give in. Then, he saw the creature get taken away from him. Ichijou tumbled over, and looked to see what happened.

Chains carried the gaurd through the air and then slammed it head first into a wall. The chains belonged to Neito. "You didn't think I was just going to let him kiss you, did you?" She then rammed the gaurd up at the roof, and immediately slammed it into the floor. Before letting go, she wrapped two more chains around it's arms. "Now... let's keep you from doing that again!"

With great force, she began to spread the chain ends apart from one another, effectively ripping the creature's arms off.

"There, that should put a stop to his axe crazyness," Neito said with a savvy grin.

Ichijou smiled. "Wow, thanks for the help Knight Wolf."

"No problem," said Neito. "Do praise me." She stuck her bust out with pride.

Masazumi wiped her head, and released a sigh of relief. "Phew, that was close. But it's strange though, why did they attack us. They're supposed to protect us, right?"

"Yeah, they were," Hituro said putting away his gravity sword. "They were until death do them part with their pact."

Toori stood up, wiping himself of debris. "Well, once a gaurd, always a gaurd, right? Right?"

Horizon then stood up behind the politician, grabbing both of Masazumi's shoulders and then leaning her upper body to side. "Toori, you are stupid. There is no such thing as 'Once a _y_, always a _y_' ."

Masazumi lighted scratched her cheek. "Isn't the common variable _x_?"

"I know what I said," replied Horizon.

Toori just laughed and pointed at the dead gaurds. "But they _were _alive, so that still makes them gaurds."

"They weren't alive you idiot," Ichijou explained. "They were already dead when they attacked us."

Neshinbara looked at him surprised. "What? How can that be? There's no such thing as... as... zombies."

Hituro's face transformed into a look of annoyance. "Just because it's dead doesn't mean it's a zombie when it gets back up. Something else happened to them."

"Well, that doesn't change anything; why did they get back up?!" Neito questioned. "It doesn't make sense. Dead things are supposed to stay still, not... get back up and- and hack at everything that moves!"

Ichijou wiped Makin with a cloth. "That is true, but there's no denying the fact they went through a transformation. That being said, there's no telling how many of these things there could be stalking the halls of _Musashi_ right now. We have got to keep our gaurd up."

In a flash, the upper body of the gaurd Neito whacked suddenly bursted apart. Erupting from the torso were three razor bladed tentacles. The tentacles all had spikes emerging from their musclular make up.

The whole group stepped back, surprised by what happened. Ichijou braced himself; Neito lifted her chains; Margot retreated as far as she could; Masazumi being pulled back by Horizon; Neshinbara stood shocked; and Toori just stood there smiling.

Hituro was the only one ready for round two with the gaurds, for some reason, they just didn't want to die. With the whip of his wrist, he pulled out his gravity sword. "Quick! It's got tentacles! Hide the girls!" He then rushed right away, and slashed at the legs.

The sound of more bones cracking from the impact of the sword could be heard, but the half bodied creature was barely phased. Like lightning, it whipped the three tentacles and slammed them hard into the young boy. Blood then flew out of the impacted area.

Hituro's eye reflected the pain. He felt the pain of those short spines puncturing his side. The tentacles immediately came out, the spines not breaking off. Hituro flew for the wall and tumbled over. He held the inflicted area, dropping his sword.

"Hituro," Ichijou mumbled. "NOO!" He too rushed for the creature. Quickly, he swiped at the tentacles, slashing all three of them off. "How come you things just can't die!?" Grunting, he kicked at the torso, which fell over life less. He looked Hituro's direction and ran for him. "Hituro! Hituro, are you okay!?"

Masazumi looked, aswell as the others. Then, she looked Margot's direction. Margot was sitting back, looking at her wings. The politician nudged Horizon slightly, getting her attention, then pointed the saraphic's direction. "Come on, let's go comfort her."

Horizon looked at Masazumi, then nodded. The two walked over her direction and kneeled down, finishing with a nice sit.

"So, how bad is it?" Masazumi asked Margot.

Margot looked up, then back at her wings. "Not- not too bad. They're bleeding, but the feathers stopped them from cutting too deep."

Masazumi nodded with a small smile of concern. "I'm glad to hear you're okay at least. We need to get somebody to look at that."

"There might not be anybody to look at that," Margot said sadly. "All the doctors on this ship might be... dead already."

Masazumi rubbed her head. "I'm sure somebody's got to be alive." She looked Hituro's direction. "Hey, are you okay over there?"

"Noooooo! What do you think!? I think I was hit by three nailed bats!"

Lowering her head, the politician sighed hard. "Oh boy." She then stood up, helping Margot and Horizon up as well. "Alright everybody, our first goal should be to get to the surface of the ship and find the nearest clinic. Margot and Hituro are hurt, and need attention- Where is captain 'Musashi'?" Masazumi looked about.

Toori looked around, then beneath him. "Oh, captain's right under me Vice Prez."

'Musashi' then opened her eyes. "I'm glad to see somebody cares. Thank you Masazumi. Over." The captain then pulls the rest of her body out of the light rubble she was under. The captains legs were wrapped around the vice captain 'Musashino', also bringing her out.

"Alright, we need to get going," Masazumi said. _I can only hope we can get up there in time before those injuries become infected with whatever turned those gaurds into those mutant freaks._


	7. Chapter 7: Subsurface Resonator

**M Cheesy Author's Note: Somebody tell me the reason why I've been too lazy to update this story. One reason… multiple reasons. Xbox, C&C3 Kane's Wrath, and Anime. Otherwise, I need to remember I have a story culminating two of my favourite series' of all time: Dead Space and Horizon. With that, let's get back to the horror.**

** Otherwise, we seem to have an OC party. Already 6 OC's are being shared throughout three different stories, two of which belong to a "metalgearhunter". I'm really hoping to have my own OC "Dimitri" from Tres Espana to make an appearance soon, along with Amagi, the Automaton from metalgearhunter's story; but I need that creator's permission. Creator of Amagi, if you're reading this: do send me a PM if you'd like me to include her in the terribleness, the disturbing, the freaky, the scary adventure that is Horizon mixed with DEAD Space!**

**Chapter 5**

**Subsurface Resonator**

Ichijou lead the way through the bowels of the ship's under deck entrance. Popping in and out of vents were the inhabitants of Musashi, now turned into vile creatures. Most of them were the same, and were pretty sluggish. The mutants had bone swords for hands, and held them like ominous obelisks, always over their heads. Luckily, the group could just out maneuver them, but sometimes…

"Alright guys," Ichijou started. "We're almost at an elevator and-"

Bang, another creature like the others just popped straight out of the vent in front of him. Ichijou immediately brought up Makin and sliced at its body. The creature took the full frontal force of the blow, but didn't go down.

"Dang it," Ichijou said under his breath, heart rate accelerating. "I hate it when these things do that."

He then lunged and struck at the creature. The divine weapon Makin had stopping power, but it wasn't made to cut through bone. The creature stumbled back, then looked back at him and growled. The nephew pulled Makin out of its body, and took several steps back.

Neshinbara looked around, and then behind him, only to see the others they left behind slowly catching up. "Uh… Ichijou? We got a ton of trouble behind us."

"I know!" He said. Ichijou then lifted his leg, and kicked the creature away. "Neito! Finish it!"

The wolf nodded. Using her silver chains, she grabbed its head, and then with ferocious force, ripped it off. Blood gushed out the head of the former resident, and it stopped moving. Neito smiled with pride. _If that's all it takes to put them down, then surely the rest isn't-_ She stopped, noticing the creature moving again. Then, in a flash, it got right back up, and started swinging in a panic.

Ichijou pushed her back, and swung Makin at the creature, sending it flying towards the others ten behind them. As if in unison, they all growled, and then bursted into a sprint towards the group.

"Run!" Neshinbara yelled.

The whole group ran as fast as they could. Hituro looked back, only to notice Margot getting left behind.

The seraphic reached out with one of her hands; her wing was starting to bleed badly, and the terror behind them was starting to catch up. "Help! I can't- I can't keep up!"

"Come on Margot!" Masazumi yelled, looking back at her. "You can do it!"

Margot started slowing down, her wing was hurting too much now. She could hear the growls getting closer. "Ow- Oh no…" Margot then slowed to a stop, panting heavily.

"Margot!" Hituro yelled, now stopping and turning back. He sped back, only stopping when the creatures caught up to her, now behind her. "Margot move!"

She looked back to find more than five slashers right on top of her. Slowly she edged back towards the group. All the creatures raised their arms, as she prepared to parry the strike. Then…

BANG!

A loud shot filled the room. Everyone looked to see Tsukasa at a door, his gun fully out. The slashers all stopped to look at him, noticing their ally shot directly in the head. Tsukasa smiled smugly. "Got ya."

"Tsukasa!" Neito yelled, "these things don't die from head shots!"

He was then surprised. "Huh, oh crap then that means the others I left-" He looked behind him at the closed door. "Damn it! Margot, get your ass over there!"

Margot nodded, and then ran as fast as the pain would allow her. Masazumi noticed her stumbling, nearly tripping. "Guys, she's not going to make it if she keeps up like this. We need to help her."

"Then you carry her, Neito and I are probably the only ones who aren't hurt yet that can still fight."

Masazumi nodded, "Sure, but come back with me, and use Makin's over drive to keep those things at bay."

"Sure thing."

The two ran for Margot, and quickly caught her. Ichijou released the over drive, and a huge force overtook the group of slashers. Shooting from a distance, Tsukasa laid down support fire. It didn't matter how much he shot them though, they wouldn't go down. Masazumi hoisted Margot onto her back, and proceeded carrying her to the rest of the group.

Hituro was tired of this, he took out one of his chrome spheres. "Ichijou! I think you'd better shield yourself!"

"What's that- huh?" Ichijou then saw what was headed over. Hituro had done chucked one of his concussion spheres in the boy's direction. Quickly, he deactivated the overdrive and shielded himself as best he could. The sphere landed right in the group of the slashers and busted all of them away quite a good distance. Ichijou fell over, but quickly got up. He picked up the sphere, and threw it back, returning to the group himself. "Quick thinking there buddy, good job."

Hituro laughed slightly. "Thanks man. Alright, let's go!"

The group ran Tsukasa's direction, and quickly let him join the group. They then got to the heavy duty door on the other side of the room. Ichijou and Neito tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Oooh, the devil-," Neito strained. "This thing's not moving!"

Ichijou pulled and pulled. "Yeah, no kidding. Hey, Useful Honda! We could use your expertise. Surely you have codes that'll open this thing!"

Masazumi looked their direction, not watching Tsukasa and Hituro keep the slashers at bay. "Yeah, I do. I'm coming." Hoisting Margot more, she walked over to the door, and looked for a key pad. "Surely there's got to be one here…" Looking about, she found one on the right side. "There." She ran for it, and began inputting a code sequence.

Ichijou used the overdrive on Makin to help delay the slashers. Tsukasa looked her direction. "Alright, any day now."

"Shit…" Masazumi let escape. The pad beeped, indicating an incorrect sequence. She began to re-input it. Another beep of error. "Shit."

Ichijou looked at her. "Hey, you getting there?"

Another beep of incorrectness. "Damn it." Masazumi rapidly inputted the code again, and another beep of incorrectness. "Shit."

Hituro looked over. "Get the code in!"

Yet again, the console beeped. "Shit!" Masazumi yelled.

"Did they change the code Seijun?" Neito asked strenuously.

The gravity swordsman Hituro finally dropped his guard, and walked over. "Let me see the thing."

Masazumi moved aside and let him get to it. "Sure."

Hituro set up the process. "Alright, what's the code?"

"Um, Zero, Four, Zero… um, Three… Two- no One!"

"What is the code!?" Hituro yelled.

Masazumi panicked. "Zero, Four, Zero, One…" Masazumi stopped to think, jittering a bit. "Zero, Four…"

"What is the fucking code!" Hituro yelled.

The politician growled. "Um… Zero, Four, Zero… Three, One… Nine… Nine Six Five!"

Hituro put in the sequence, and the door opened. "There, was that so hard?" He turned about, and the room ahead was empty, untouched actually.

"Alright!" Ichijou yelled. "Everybody inside now! Let's go!"

The group all moved inside the room, and Tsukasa quickly closed the door behind them. The thick iron doors then locked, isolating them from the terror outside.

Margot sat down on a bar stool, Masazumi and Horizon inspecting the wounds on her wing. She whimpered a bit, but it was clear she was just scared. Masazumi looked at Horizon, nodded slightly, then back at the wing.

Tsukasa laid back against the heavy duty doors, listening for the slashers outside. He looked up their direction. "You had better get a certified doctor to take a good look at that. Her wing was _chopped_, remember?"

"There probably are no doctors anymore Tsukasa," Masazumi stated, examining the wing. "Horizon, could you fetch that first aid kit over there?"

The automaton nodded, and proceeded to collect the requested item.

Masazumi looked up at the seraphic. "It's not too bad from what I see. You just can't move much until the cut clots. Your feathers are doing a nice job at blocking the blood, but I want to properly wrap that up at least. It might not be a good idea to let feathers be your band-aid."

Margot nodded, tears still flowing slightly.

"What's wrong? Does it hurt that bad?" Masazumi asked. "I can understand, you took an axe right there after all."

Margot shook her head. "No. One swipe of a common fire axe like that ain't going to get deep enough to cause a bad wound, and it only hurts if I move too much." She wiped her eyes. "I'm worried about Ga-chan. If we have it this bad… how bad do the others have it? Kimi, Genji, Tenzou… I don't know what I'd do if I lost Ga-chan."

Masazumi lifted a hand to her face. "Hey, you're not going to lose her. We're not losing any of our classmates. Got that?"

"How can you be certain of that, huh?" Margot questioned. "I know you're just trying to make me feel better, but people can't help it if they get hurt. They can't help it if they get… killed."

Musashi walked by them. "That is true, over. A person cannot reject another when they are the one assaulted, over."

"Still, to think…" Masazumi started. "Our classmates actually dead, it's just unimaginable." She looks at 'Musashi' and 'Musashino'. "How is it that we can fight an entire war, and stand up against a hundred men- Neito can stand up to a hundred men. So, how come we couldn't take those things back there?"

Ichijou looked her direction. "I can answer that for you: it was too sudden, we weren't organized. As a plus, usually the students we strike stay down, they don't get back up. These things simply shrug off our attacks. How are we supposed to fight something like that. When you're up against an enemy you don't understand, it's best to run away and regroup. That's what we did. As a plus, we found Tsukasa." He turned back to Hituro and tightened a bandage on him.

Hituro winced a bit, but took it in. "So, a question Tsukasa."

"I'm willing to answer."

"How was it you were able to survive? Not only that, how'd you get down here so fast?"

Tsukasa looked up slightly. "It just so happened I had business down here, and about surviving the ship's fall… well, that has something to do with a storage room full of nothing but boxes of Styrofoam."

Ichijou then turned to him, bewildered. "Why were you in a room full of Styrofoam?"

"I wanted Kuina to make a dummy of Toori that could punch every now and then," Tsukasa said bitterly. "Looks like that ain't happening though…"

Hituro laughed. "Heh, sure ain't, isn't it. Well, I sure hope Kuina, Ayumi, and Kazu are alright.

"They should be, last I saw them, they were watching the kids in the play area, just talking. I supposed they went into the bounce house nearby for shelter when they got word the ship was falling." Ichijou cocked his gun. "So, how's that wound treating you?"

"Eh, I could've been worse… doesn't mean to say it's not a thorn in my side," Hituro replied. "So, how long are we going to be here?"

Masazumi, who was now looking through the first aid kit Horizon brought, looked his direction. "Until we can all calm down and correctly assess the situation. We need to find the rest of our friends and classmates; see which ones are not infected; and find that guy that's responsible for all of this."

Neshinbara clasped his hands together. "After all of that, every one of us will get a turn at kicking his ass. Extra time for any of friends that might get killed."

"Like Genji?" Ichijou asked.

"Any of our _friends_," Neshinbara repeated, his smile not fading.

Ichijou nodded. "Alright." He then looked at Hituro. "That should do you."

"Thanks."

Masazumi finished up the wrapping of Margot's wing. "There we go, you should be alright now; I should probably see if we can get something to keep that wing in place too, huh?"

"No," Margot shook her head. "It's okay, I'll just keep it down. Thank you though."

Ichijou took up Makin. "Alright guys, we need to move. Just because we're okay, doesn't mean our friends are. We need to go, and we need to find them."

"Judge," the group said in unison.

** AUTHOR'S CONCLUSSION: Well, I sure hope you enjoyed the chapter. Again, I'm sorry it took so long to come out; I just keep forgetting I have a story I'd like to write. Please leave nice comments and reviews! I'm also going to be substituting curse words in favor of lighter versions of the representative word from here on out, unless it is absolute necessary for them to cuss. Thanks again!**

** Also, if anybody can find the reference in this chapter, do let me know. 'Kay, thanks.**


	8. Chapter 8: Strait Jacket Required

**AUTHOR'S LOG/NOTE: Okay, so I decided to come back and work on this as soon as possible; however, while on my way back, I found myself in a situation that's probably more terrifying the Necromorphs… or just as.**

**[Iris Heart]: I'll say.**

**[Me]: Yeah… that's my situation. Anyways, since I'm already buried in dept to her, it wouldn't hurt to ask her to at least do me a favor. I've asked miss CPU Iris Heart here to do the disclaimer for me.**

**[Iris Heart]: And I shall, but afterwards, **_**we**_** are going to get to business, painful business.**

**[Me]: I was pretty sure you only did that kind of stuff to girls.**

**[Iris Heart]: **_**Painful**_** business.**

**[Me] -.-' , just do the disclaimer please so we can get this over with, I'm sure the people want to read this story now…**

**[Iris Heart]: Oh yeah, the people… The writer of this fic does not own any of the characters in **_**Kyoukai Sen**_**, nor does he own anything from Dead Space. He also doesn't own me, I own him.**

**[Me] Nobody owns **_**you**_** Iris Heart- Wait, what was that last part!?**

**Chapter 5**

**Strait Jacket Required**

Ichijou Tadagatsu lead the way ahead. There appeared to be no more of those monsters, for now. Ahead, he found an automaton lying dead, her body hacked open. There was divine transmission monitor in front of her playing some audio feed back.

"_We can't stop them. Our weapons have no effect against these things!" _said the voice of what sounded like a Musashi soldier.

"_Don't aim for their head,"_ said what sounded like an automaton. _"Aim for the limbs! That's the only way you're going to be able to take them down. Aim for the limbs, it's the only way they go down!"_

Ichijou eyed the monitor carefully.

"_Please, whoever gets this message, send it to everybody you can. Take off their limbs!"_

"So…" Hituro started, gathering the group's attention. "I wonder if we should cut off their limbs. What do you guys think?"

The group obvious caught the fact he was trying to joke around. Tsukasa loaded his gun. "Well, that information would've been a lot more helpful to me when I had a lot more ammo." He checked his spare clips. "Crap… only four spare clips left. That means only forty-eight rounds, and if you add the twelve in my current clip, that only means I got sixty shots at those things."

Masazumi face palmed, "God, I hate the number forty-eight."

"Why?" Neshinbara asked.

Masazumi looked his direction. "Let's just say I associate it with the epitome of bad luck."

"Where does that come from?"

"Trust me Neshinbara," Masazumi began, looking about. "That is probably the only question you'll never want to _know_ the answer to."

Neshinbara looked Hituro's direction. "I don't understand the reference at all. What's so bad about the number forty-eight?"

Tsukasa then walked by the two friends. "I don't know really, but it sounds like something only one person would literally know. Whatever that number references obviously can't be recreated."

The group continued down the lonely rooms. It looked like they were now going through some sort of lounge-esque building. Wrecked and broken tables scattered the floors, with most still standing. Drinking cups were all over the place, and what looked like food was scattered as well. With Musashi's electronics on the fritz, lights and signals going out, it really wasn't easy to tell where they were, or where they were going.

Margot was amazed by how little she knew of the vessel. "Wow, I've been living on Musashi for my whole life, and I've never even been here. I never even knew it existed."

"Trust me Margot," Tsukasa said. "Not everybody knows the place they grew up in entirely well. I lived in Mikawa for quite a while, and I still don't know the names of all the stores or people that are in three hundred meters of my "home". Heck, I don't even know everything that's in a hundred meters."

Margot laughed a bit. "That's funny Tsuka-kun. You're worse than I am at memory."

"Take a look at what's on your back; now consider how I think you'd travel everywhere. When you got those big wings on your back, why bother walking? You probably get an aerial view of everything around home, don't you?"

"Eh heh heh, yeah; I guess you're right about that." Margot replied, lightly fist tapping her noggin.

Ahead, Masazumi opened another door to find an elevator at the end of the room that was surprisingly operational. She then looked around the room. "Hey captain, why are all the lights off, but the elevator still operational?"

'Musashi' looked her direction. "Elevators are an essential and efficient part of Musashi, as they help provide convenient and quick transportation. Lights only help with vision, but seeing as everybody uses light generating devices, it was quickly decided that lights are simply a convenience, and don't help provide efficiency, thus we chose that in the event of an emergency, lights would be killed."

Masazumi simply nodded. "Boy, I bet the governmental council regrets that now. They probably can't see what's killing them, considering the fact they might be dead anyway. I hope my father is okay."

A noise then sounded off, it sounded like a cup falling. Quickly, Tsukasa drew his weapon, and aimed it that direction. "Psst, anybody got any light?" He whispered.

"No," Neshinbara said. "Our monitors don't give off that much. We'd need Asama to prepare us some light spells when we find her."

Ichijou then moved about. "I think we might have something. Hey Hituro, throw one of your chrome spheres; don't they give off a brief flash?"

"Why would I- yeah, they do." Hituro replied.

"Chuck one over there, would ya?"

The gravity swordsman took one out. "Sure thing." He bounced the sphere in his hand a little bit, then chucked it strongly towards the sound. As soon as it hit, a brief explosion of light filled the area. Within the shadows, two Slashers stalked closer to them. Now having been noticed, the monsters broke into a full sprint.

The group all took steps back except Tsukasa, who stood his ground. He aimed for the creatures. _"Aim for the limbs!"_ He remembered. Quickly, he realigned his sights to the creatures' knees, and shot them each with twelve rapidly placed bullets, three for each knee. Blood splattered, and flew; and the creatures legs flew right off.

"Ha ha! Yeah!" Tsukasa cheered. "Check me out guys-"

Masazumi pointed at him. "Tsukasa, they're not dead!"

"What-" He asked in surprise. He then turned back around to find the slashers pulling themselves at him, speed not diminished much. "Holy crap."

Then, out of nowhere, two tables were slammed onto the creatures from the roof. The group looked up, then beside them to see 'Musashi' and 'Musashino' with their arms held in front of them.

"What?" the captain simply asked.

Masazumi chuckled slightly. "Alright, alright; I got to admit, you scared me there. Alright, lets go up-"

"…_ahhh…"_

A faint scream? It sounded like was ahead of them, in the room above.

"Wow, don't want to go in there," Masazumi said. She then walked to the elevator, only to find that it went up to the next floor. "What's this?"

Musashino walked up next to her. "Oh I see. This is one of those service elevators that only serve to go from point A to point B, which is above us."

Masasumi couldn't believe the blatantness and blankness in her voice, like she was trying to sound sarcastic, but not be it.

Musashino looked back at her. "What to say in such a predicament? How do you say, hmm… "Such Misfortune"?"

"Yeah," Masazumi dully agreed. "That's what I would call it. Who's bright idea was it to make an elevator that only went up only _one floor_!?"

"Mine."

Masazumi simply looked back at Musashino, who wore no guilty expression on her face. "I hate you, you know that?"

Without batting an eye or turning her head, Musashino simply lifted her arm and lightly whacked the top of Masazumi's head. "Don't say things you don't mean."

Neshinbara walked by. "I blame level designers who come up with sick stuff like this in their video games."

Tsukasa then walked by them. "Forget them, I blame the writer." He reloaded his guns. "Either way, it looks like we're going up there."

Masazumi really didn't like the thought of going into that elevator. The fact that somebody was alive just nearby was a shuddering thought. _That could be one of us next…_

Neshinbara stepped in last, and pushed the "up" button. The elevator then climbed its way up rather smoothly. After several seconds, it stopped and opened. Ichijou and Hituro took a step out, and looked around. It looked like nothing was there.

"Alright guys," Ichijou whispered. "Coast is clear."

The group then carefully and silently stepped out. The automatons walked without making a sound. Tsukasa listened very intently. He could definitely hear something going on, he heard walking. It shuffled, and it shimmered, as if stumbling about.

"Guys," Tsukasa let out in a whisper. "We're not alone." He pointed towards the only door at the end of the hall, it was on the left wall. "There's something moving around in that room, and I don't think it's a person."

Masazumi swallowed hard, swallowing whatever saliva had gathered in her mouth. Her heart was pumping faster than she could keep up. Clearly she was anticipating another attack.

"Whatever comes out of there, we're going to have to fight." Tsukasa said. "There's not enough room to run away. Let's go."

The group neared the door, and then there was a sudden-

"_AAHHHH!"_

Ichijou backed off as what looked like a civilian of Musashi crawled out from the door way. Steam was rising off of him and his face looked melted. Upon inspection, he appeared to be covered in a thick bowel, almost like…

"Acid," Tsukasa said, forcing the group backwards more. "They're as good as dead, there's nothing we can do for him."

Then, a sick gurgle could be heard, and high squeal. A large mutated 'hand' grabbed the person, and dragged them halfway into the room, and another human like creature with a larger build appeared. It grabbed its victim's head, and proceeded to regurgitate all sorts of bile matter outwards, pouring all of it on its victim's face and body.

Ichijou could smell the sickening stench. The person coughed up the bile, and then fell limp. The creature then looked their direction, stomach acid dripping from its face. From the look of things, the creature's eyes was missing and most of its face was melted. It had no nose, and no lower jaw. The chest was completely mauled. Its insides were revealing, and a mixture of yellow and green met with its pale grey skin. This thing was a person transformed into an acid puking killing machine.

"What the crap!" Ichijou said, pulling up Makin.

Tsukasa then got in front of him. "No, the acid might melt Makin. Let me handle this thing."

The creature roared, and proceeded towards the group, acid spilling from its mouth and chest. For a dead thing, it was pretty speedy. Tsukasa then shot at its legs. Shot after shot, it didn't stop, nor did it falter.

"Dang, how the heck is the human body this tough?"

The creature lunched for him, and then… a slice? Tsukasa looked to his left to see Hituro beside him. He smiled, but then noticed that the creature's arm still wasn't sliced off. "Hituro!"

Hituro looked and immediately brought up his sword vertically and the gravity blade generously cut through the puker's body. After several agonizing seconds, the blade went through its head, splitting it perfectly in half. The creature stood still for several seconds.

"Yeah," Hituro said lowly. "Take that."

All of a sudden, the puker's body busted apart, and loads of stomach acid spewed out as if just erupting from a pressure boiler. Hituro backed off, but it didn't save him from getting engulfed in little globs of acid. Using his arm, he kept a lot from getting on, but he could definitely feel the acid eating through the silky cloth. Quickly, he took it off.

"Wow, those things are even more dangerous than the other ones. Put them in a strait jacket and they still can get you."

Neshinbara looked at the bile in surprise. There was so much, surely the stomach can't hold that much, right?

"Check out how heavily mutated its organs are." Tsukasa said, kneeling down. "It's almost as if the entire body was redesigned to concentrate on rapidly generating this acidic bile."

Ichijou checked up on Hituro, whom seemed alright. "Yeah, it puked to kill that person right there. It makes me wonder if there are even more… types… of these things."

Masazumi squeezed ahead and peered into the room it came out of. She gasped at what she saw. More people were being melted away, by _two_ more of those things. They looked her direction, but continued to puke on their current victims; apparently just finishing up. "Guys, there are two more of those pukers."

"Shit…" Ichijou said lowly. "We can't take on _two_ of them."

Tsukasa then stepped in, being sure to stand an aggressive to intimidate the enemy. The pukers finished, and then stepped together. They too stood their ground, acknowledging Tsukasa's challenge.

"Alright guys, here's the plan," Tsukasa started. "I can't use up twelve rounds on each of these guys, so Ichijou and I will advance and quickly knock them over; but they're strong, so they'll be right back up, considering _if_ they fall. During that, you guys make a run for it. We keep on running, and we don't engage. The leader should take turns only when needed, and we need to follow until we find a place they can't reach us, like an easily lockable room. But when we make our move, you've got to be ready."

The group hesitantly nodded. Margot was a little concerned about whether she could keep up or not with this injury on her wing, but this was something she _had _to do.

"We have to do this," Tsukasa finished. "Because this time, we are truly running for our lives."

**AUTHORS EPILOGUE: Wow, some ride right? So, we get introduced to another necromorph, the Puker! I want to find some way to have the characters refer to them by their official names, but I also want to make sure it seems like they chose the "nick" names on the spot by studying their new adversary. Let me know if you think that it seems a bit un-natural.**

**Oh, and some might be wondering this question. "Class 3-Plum are full on bad-ass. Why are they **_**running away**_** from things they could easily take down? Good question. You see, Class 3-Plum excels in battle yes, but that's only in "battle", which mostly takes place in an open space, where there is lots of room for movement, etc. If in a closed space, like a small room, or a larger room with a low 7-8 foot ceiling and tables or something like that, there isn't much room to move around and if you make a wrong move with a sword or something, you're more than likely to injure one of your team mates than you're able to harm the enemy. Battle experienced people like Ichijou and Tsukasa understand this (as far as I'm aware) and are intent on surviving, not beating the enemy. Besides, what shame is there in running away when the enemy you are fighting isn't even concerned about how brave of a person you are? I hope I cleared that up for any that might be wondering that.**


	9. Chapter 9: Puker Run Now!

**AUTHORS NOTE: Yeah, I'm not going to do the cheesy disclaimer thing everytime, only every now and then. Everybody knows I don't own Horizon or Dead Space. By the way, have you ever been chased down a dark corridor, screaming for your mommy? Never had that call returned? That's the nightmare that inspired what you're about to read.**

**Chapter 7**

**Puker. Run. Now!**

Tsukasa held his ground, as did the two pukers. Tsukasa could feel their hollow eyes staring straight into his soul. That horrible face left in a blank looking stare. He couldn't believe how horribly augmented the people of Musashi were in such a state, in this… necromorphed state. They didn't even look like they used to be people of Musashi, let alone people.

"Psst, Hituro… are you ready?" Tsukasa asked.

Hesitantly, the samurai nodded. "J-jud man." He then turned his head to look at Tsukasa. "I can't do this, those things-"

"Fierce gaze Hituro, fierce gaze," Tsukasa said, not looking his direction.

Immediately, the boy focused back on the pukers, being sure to wear a determined look. He hated them, those things. All they did was kill… kill without remorse. The very thought of all that was going on brought him back a bit, back to IZUMO, when _that_ happened. He gritted his teeth, he had to shake it off; but any sudden movements could set those things off. He then eyed Tsukasa. "When are we going to do this?"

Tsukasa focused in. His eyes met with the eyes of the hollow ones. How did they even see? "Now!" He suddenly shouted, throwing himself at the creature with his fire arms raised. He let off two rounds, and shouldered it. The puker got knocked over and fell over one of the tables. "Hituro!"

The boy snapped back, and then threw one of his chrome spheres at the other one. At impact, a strong concussion went off. The puker was thrown over the same table, and landed next to its friend. Tuskasa was busted to the door way, at which he quickly regained his balance. Hituro ran to the impact area and quickly retrieved his sphere, then bolted in Tsukasa's direction and both exited the room. Looking back, the first puker was just then regaining balance.

The group ran as fast as they could, even the captain was expressing some form of fear. Tsukasa wondered, do automatons truly not feel anything? "Hey captain, a question."

"Ask away, over," 'Musashi' let out, obviously keeping her breathing labored so she could run effectively.

"If the situation arose-"

"If such a situation arose, this unit wouldn't think twice about sacrificing its life for you children. You are much more precious. I am just a machine. Over." That was the captain's answer.

Tsukasa furrowed his brows. "That's what I figured. Then allow me to make a request, don't do that. Your life is valued by many of us, and _you_ we could never get back as well, so don't throw yourself into something you know you won't get out of." Tsukasa looked back, already seeing the two monstrosities running down the hall. He looked back at her. "Besides, you're the captain; if you die, everything will go to turmoil; anarchy will break loose and nobody will know what to do."

"That's already happening, over."

Tsukasa then looked ahead. _Darn right about that._

Neito was practically up at the front. She took seconds to look around and saw that there were many things lying around. She then started collecting some thoughts together. _ With all of this junk lying around, what's to stop me from chucking it at those things? _ She looked back to see she was practically ahead of everyone. _Yes, that I must do. As a knight, it is my sole duty to protect my loved ones._ Without warning, she started skidding to a stop.

"Neito!" Masazumi yelled.

Hituro's eyes shrunk. "Neito, what are you doing!?"

"Buying us time; don't worry: I don't plan on getting left behind," said the half wolf. She then let out her chains and wrapped them around a container filled with water. She let the others run past her, and focused her gaze on the closest of the pukers. "Take this you sick fucks!"

With a ferocious toss, the container hurled its way at the creatures. They did not make any quarter, and took the full impact of the blast. The container exploded, and water flew everywhere. Neito smiled and returned to running with the group. She looked back, but didn't find what she'd expect. She thought that such pressure would knock them around or maybe blow them up, but no, sadly it only made them _stumble_.

With a panic she caught up to the group. "Did we say those things are tough? I think we should say they're freaking _invincible!_"

"Agreeing with you there wolfy!" Ichijou yelled.

The two looked back, the pukers slowly catching up. Somehow, those dead beats could run faster than live people were. Neito grabbed a box with her chains, and proceeded to chuck it at the creatures. The box flew and flipped, and then broke into pieces upon impact, spilling the contents. Again, this only made them stumble.

Then, one of the pukers stopped, and reared back, emitting a loud trumpet like sound.

"What is it-" Neito started.

Then, in a flash, it spat something out, and that something flew fast, and straight for the wolf. "What the-" In an instant, she was knocked over, and flipped violently upon the ground. Ichijou stopped, as well as Hituro, and ran back her direction.

"Hey, get up Neito!" Hituro strained.

Ichijou quickly took a pose similar to Futayo's bind, and unsealed Maken. "Maken!" The sword then spun rapidly, creating a sort of stasis bind, slowing the creatures down. He was sure to keep trekking backwards, as the creatures were only slowed. "Hey Neito, you okay?"

She could feel it, the foul stench, and the burning from the acid. She shook from the shock of the impact. "Oh-h-h, I don't feel too good." She tried getting up, but the bile was keeping her from moving too fast. Steam rose from her, she felt like she had been hit with two hundred and fifty pounds of slowness. Trying hard, she got to her feet.

Hituro panicked. _No way is she going to be able to run like this._ "Ichijou, we have to help her!"

"We!?" He said. "Can't you see I'm _busy_?!"

The gravity samurai -in training- then threw down another one of his chrome spheres, busting the creatures back once again. Ichijou was also knocked back by the concussion, this time not expecting it. Ichijou landed hard on his buttocks.

"Come on," Hituro said, running by him; now grabbing hold of his uniform. "Let's get moving!"

Ichijou tried hard to recover. "Man, those or some strong things- hey, you left it-"

"No, I got it right here. Just get going already." Hituro started to stress."

Ichijou then got on his feet, and proceeded running as before.

Queen Elizabeth watched out of the balcony as Danik marveled in his own amazement; the amazement of the Marker XIII.

"You…" started the voice of Juana, of Tres Espana. "You monster! This was supposed to be a peaceful meeting. What have you done!?"

Danik turned her direction. "I'm starting the evolution of mankind, my dear Juana. Infact, I think you of most people should enjoy it. I've never seen how an elf reacts to the effects of the Great and Almighty Marker."

"You are one sick individual!" Juana continued. "Stop this, now!" She looks at Felipe. "Felipe, _detener este_ _Diablo_."

Felipe looks at her, then at Danik. "I-… I believe there's nothing I can do Juana. He's the one in power."

"You know," Danik said, "I don't like it when people talk in a different language than I'm familiar with. However, I do recognize the word _Diablo_ from my Spanish class. God I hated that class." He then leans over and grabs the Alcala de Henarespresident by hair, and quickly yanks her up to his eye level. "Grab her."

Two of the unitologists quickly take a hold of Juana. Felipe then tries to rise and fight them, but another unitologist quickly notices this, and stops him by talking a quick aim for his head. Felipe freezes, knowing there is nothing he can do to help her. Reluctantly, he complies and lowers his head.

Takakane grips his hand tightly. Seeing this man do this to Juana was infuriating. "You… bastard."

"Hey now, now cursing," Danik tells him, simply waving his finger left and right. "I don't think you're in the position to start calling me names. Now…" He eyes Juana. "You don't like the way I do things?"

Trying to keep her dignity, she pride fully thrusted her chest in defiance. "Absolutely, this is wrong. What do you hope to gain from crashing all of these ships?"

Elizabeth simply watched. Clearly there had to be something more to that shock wave, right? Something else was brewing, something clearly evil.

"My dear Juana, it's not about crashing the ships. It's about mankind's rebirth, our ascendance! Everybody must join the cycle of rebirth sooner or later, and quite frankly, I'm getting tired of you and your constant bickering."

He then threw her head back, his guards keeping a good hold of her. He then turned around, and pulled out what looked like a carved knife in the form of the helix structure. He then turned back to face her. "Don't worry, it only lasts a couple of seconds." In a quick motion, he took the knife and stuck it straight into the woman's forehead. The sound of bones cracking and breaking, and the oozing sploich made Elizabeth's stomach turn. Juana's face had completely gone out, and she fell over.

"There we go. Ready for rebirth!" Danik said aloud, empty of remorse.

Felipe's eyes shook from what just happened. "No…" He couldn't believe it. This man just killed his fiancée. "No…" He then reached out for her. "Juana!"

The guards didn't do much regarding him now, he was broken. They allowed him to crawl next to the woman, and hold her. He then cradled her and silently wept.

"You bastards!" Takakane bellowed. "You will get yours! You're going to get yours!"

Elizabeth sat back, dumbfounded. Clearly this man was insane. He just killed Juana, just like that. What's to stop him from killing her? Will those kind people from Musashi ever turn about? What happened to the pope president? All these questions she asked herself, but there was only one thing she truly did know at this point: keep her mouth shut, and Danik won't kill her.

"Oh I love happy endings," Danik said to nobody in particular. "I only wish it could've been that way, but you all saw: she forced my hand." He took the knife he had, and stuck it back into his pocket. "It can't be helped now. Come, we must leave. It's time we transport the Marker back to our base on the Lunar Horizons Colony. Soon, we'll be able to share everything about its wonders with the whole universe!"

Neito continued to throw canisters at the creatures, but they would not stop. The effect of the bile had worn off. It appeared that as long as it was hot, it done it's job; fortunately, it cools down within two minutes.

Ichijou was constantly toppling over whatever he could find standing to slow the creatures down, but to no avail, they didn't stop. "Crap."

The group then reached a door, and proceeded to open it. It lead to a singular room filled with ether tanks. In the middle was some sort of cryogenic device. Labeled above it were the words STASIS APPURTURE "DO NOT REMOVE". They then closed the door, leaving the pukers outside.

Collectively, they releases a sigh of relief. "Thank God Almighty that's over," Masazumi said. "But they'll find a way around, and if not that, there's not really anyway we can completely avoid them. There's bound to be a whole lot more of those pukers."

"And slashers," Hituro said.

Ichijou perked a bit. "Slashers?"

Tsukasa inspected the stasis appurture, and then looked around. There appeared to an armband strap of some sort. If he could remove the appurture, and get the pieces to an engineering station, maybe he could create some sort of weapon. The question was, what _was_ stasis?

"Yeah, you know… slashers," Hituro continued.

"Where in the world did you come up with that?" Ichijou asked him, obviously interested. "You nick naming them now?"

Hituro shrugged. "Yeah sure, why not. It's a lot better than calling them _them_, and the term zombies wouldn't work because they're not simple zombies. As far as that name goes, I say slashers fit for the other ones."

"Why's that?" Neito asked, obviously fatigued.

"Well, they got bone saws for hands, and they slash at people with them. Slashers." Hituro explained.

'Musashino' shook her head, then straigtened up. "That is by far the most uncreative and ridiculous name for a creature I've ever heard."

"Well then," Hituro started, "how about you try coming up with a better name miss smarty pants."

The co-captain thought for a bit. "I retract my last statement, I can't really come up with anything."

"Not just that," Hituro kept on. "Why do you pick on my name, _slashers_, when Masazumi's _pukers_ sound even worse? Do you have something against me?"

'Musashino' shook her head. "No, I just like messing with you."

Hituro kept his head low. "Me and you… we're going to have to talk."

"Hey guys," Tsukasa said. "Take a look at this. What is this thing?"

The group looked, and 'Musashi' jogged towards him.

"That there is a Stasis Storage Module. It's used for transporting liquid ether, to keep it in liquid state. I'd advise you don't mess with-"

Tsukasa pulled a couple of wires, and then the module sparked. Tsukasa backed away, quite surprised it'd spark. The module then fired off a stream of stasis energy, enveloping the impact area in a cyan tint.

"Wow, didn't think that'd happen." Tsukasa expressed.

Then, he heard something. It sounded like something was crawling from the walls. It busted and bounded against the metallic walls of the vents. And then, several seconds later, the vents on the roof busted open, and one of the pukers falling from it. At another vent, the other puker emerged in a similar fashion.

"They look pissed," Neito blantly said, surprised they found a way into the room.

Hituro drew his blade. "Rule #1, my ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through."

Ichijou too drew Maken, and looked Hituro's direction. "I thought Rule #1 was "No talking in my classroom.""

"That's a different Rule #1!"

Tsukasa drew his blades. "Guys, now is not the time for your antics. It's time we get ready to fight."

**AUTHORS CONCLUSION: Yeah, these chapters are only 8 pages long on Word, but still seem short. I would focus on making them longer, but I don't have **_**that**_** much free time in school to work on it. Yeah… Anyways, looks like a boss esque fight next chapter. I would like to say that it too would come out on the day I write it, but I don't think so, I want it to be epic!**


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